Anything But Ordinary
by IWishIWasAMermaid
Summary: Very mysterious circumstances. Keely's dad has been murdered apparently. Also, Phil is trying to work out how to tell Keely that he loves her. And Via tries to change Owen. So, how will it all work out? That is the big question.
1. Looking for water in a well that is dry

**Chapter 1- Looking for water in a well you've run dry**

"And now for the news with Keely Teslow. I'm Keely Teslow," Keely read out. Another boring day. Her life was stuck in a rut and she needed desperately to get out of it.

Five days a week going to school, reading the news, falling head-over-heels in love with her best friend, getting homework. And then a weekend at the mall. With Phil. Or Via. Whichever one it was that day.

Even the novelty of her best friend being from the future had worn off, and now the many uses of the Wizrd were like second nature to her.

"We'll be having a fundraiser next week. Make sure to turn up to the H.G Wells Car Wash next week. And a message from Vice Principal Hackett, 'this car wash is not an excuse to run around in bikinis and t-shirts and throw buckets of water over each other. Boys, and girls, you have been warned.' Personally, I think he's being a bit to OTT. You can't throw buckets of water over each other. Spraying with the hose pipe maybe, but buckets of water is so last century," Keely said.

Phil snickered as Keely said this. She looked at him briefly after saying it, but then looked back at the piece of paper that told her the news.

"So, if there is nothing else to report…" Keely trailed off, trying to find her place on the bit of paper. Looking at Phil had distracted her. "Oh, yeah! There'll be a movie night in the gym tomorrow. Apparently it's the Star Trek appreciation group that are running it this month, so expect it to be a sci-fi film. And don't you dare think that we're going Phil!"

Phil rolled his eyes. Trust Keely to announce that on the news.

"Lunch is Sloppy Joes. Yuck. Does anyone else realise how disgusting and sloppy, Sloppy Joes are?"

Phil opened his mouth as if to interrupt, but Keely held up a hand to stop him. "Thanks for watching, or listening or whatever. Signing off, this is Keely Teslow."

Phil pressed stop, and walked over to Keely who was straightening her skirt. "You were great."

"See! You're doing it too!" Keely cried, throwing her arms in the air.

Phil wrinkled his nose, and tried to think of what he had done. "What am I doing too?"

Keely sighed, and sat down on her chair again. Spinning around on it, she spoke. "Everyday you come up to me and you say 'that was great!' Its always the same thing. You don't even say fantastic, or cool. It's always, 'great!' And you're not the only thing. Via comes up to me, every morning, and says 'Keely, I love your outfit!' Always those five words. And they annoy me so much!"

"So, you don't want people to like your outfits…?" Phil said, trying to see the point of the ramblings.

Keely brought her chair to a stop in front of Phil. "No. I want my life to be different. Than every day doing the same old thing…"

"So, what do you propose to do about it?" Phil said, sitting down on the desk in front of her.

Keely tilted her head to one side, taking in Phil's awesome-ness. "Did you just say propose?"

Phil screwed up his eyes. "Huh?"

"Oh," Keely shook her head, and snapped back to reality. "Nothing. I don't propose to do anything about it. Because I have no idea what to do about it. I just wish everything wasn't so…samey…"

"Samey?" Phil laughed.

Keely looked at him and raised her eyebrows. "It's a word. Look it up in the dictionary."

"I'll take your word for it," Phil smiled.

Keely rolled her eyes. "You may be 'Mr. Math Genius' but I'm the high school version of J.K Rowding."

"It's Rowling, Keels," Phil said.

"Whatever," Keely said. "So, how do you propose we change my life?"

Phil shrugged. "Nobody knows what you want, but you."

"Yeah. Nobody but me," Keely sighed. "I guess my life is stuck in a rut forever."

Phil laughed. "Being stuck in something isn't so bad. I'm stuck in time, and look where it got me!"

"In a stuffy school, in a century where nothing exciting happened, unless you count jeans coming into fashion, pressing record on a video camera, when you could be in 2121, flying round on Hover-disks or something?" Keely guessed.

Phil looked at her as he got up. "Is your life really that bad?"

"You have to ask? Try being me for a day Phil. You think trying to conceal the fact that you're…" Keely looked around and lowered her voice. "The fact that you're from the future is hard? Try being a normal teenage girl, actually from this century!"

Phil rolled his eyes, and held out his hand to help her up. "Well, forgive me if I turn down the offer. I really don't want to be a girl. No offence."

"Absolutely none taken," Keely said, taking his hand, and getting the familiar jittery feeling she got whenever Phil touched her.

"So, tell me more about the sad, pathetic life of Keely Teslow," Phil said, as they left the Broadcast Lab.

Keely sighed. "Well, my mom keeps telling me that 'it may seem hard, but teenage life is not the be all and end all.' I have absolutely no idea why. Owen sat behind me on the bus this morning, and I swear I still have a sticky patch on the back of my neck. Plus my best friend is smiling while I tell him all this, as if there is something funny! Phil!"

"What?" Phil cried as Keely punched him. "I was smiling because it's so cute the way you get so aggravated at people for the weirdest things. Like telling you that you were great on the news. Or that your outfit rocks."

Keely groaned as they walked up the hallway to their lockers. "I just want to be out there where exciting things happen."

"Um…you aren't going to find anything more exciting than a best friend who comes from the future," Phil said, putting in his combination.

Keely opened her locker to the brightly decorated inside. "I know. It's just, I want something to change. I want someone to proclaim their love for me, or to win a great competition, or something amazing!"

"Someone to proclaim their love for you, huh?" Phil said, taking his books out of his locker, and closing it, with a knowing smirk on his face.

Keely rolled her eyes. "I meant, hypothetically…"

"Sure," Phil said sarcastically.

Keely sighed. "Look, there's Via. I have to go to talk to her about our science project. I'll see you in English, okay?"

"Fine. Later Keels," Phil smiled. He watched as she jogged down the corridor, and being talking to Via. "Proclaim their love for her, huh?" he whispered, and then walked down the corridor, wondering.

**Okay, yes, I am doing a sequel to Unbelievable, but it will be coming later. I want to write this first. Is that okay? **

**Well, I don't care what you say, because that's what I'm doing…**

**Hope you like…**


	2. You know me better than I knew myself

**Chapter 2 - It's as if you know me better than I ever knew myself**

"I am seriously screwed up today," Keely said, as she pulled out the wrong book for the fourth time.

Via laughed. "Maybe you're screwed up with lurve!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Keely said, and got the right English book out of her bag. "Great! We're gonna be talking about Shakespeare. Why couldn't he just have written in English, and made his plays with a little more fun in them? Then maybe kids would want to learn about the dude."

Via rolled her eyes and grabbed Keely's arm. "Don't you dare change the subject. You know what I mean."

"No, I really don't," Keely demanded.

Mr Messerschmitt came in, and clapped his hands together five times.

"Keely, Keely, Keely," Via shook her head.

Keely sat up straight. "Don't you triple Keely me!"

Via raised her eyebrows at her.

"Sorry. Natural reflex. It's what I say when Phil does that," Keely apologised, and her shoulders slouched again.

Via smiled. "See, Phil again."

"What of it?" Keely asked, immediately hoping it didn't sound as posh coming out of her mouth as it had in her head.

Mr Messerschmitt wrote something on the board, but neither Keely nor Via were listening.

"You so lurve him!" Via whispered.

Keely began writing furiously in her book. "Phil? Nu-uh. I do not."

"Okay, whatever Keely. But if you're not going to tell me the truth, at least admit the truth to yourself," Via sat back, and smiled at her.

Keely rolled her eyes. "Look, Phil has been my best friend before you came here, and I think I'd know if I loved him."

"The point is, you don't. And so you need someone to tell you. And I am that someone. As you have understood. But you still seem to be oblivious…" Via hissed.

Mr Messerschmitt turned, and stared at them. "Girls…"

"Sorry," Keely said. "Via, just shut up."

Via gave it a rest for a few minutes, but as soon as their work had been set, she leaned back forward. "I'll give you evidence. As soon as you heard there was a movie night, you assumed you and Phil would be going. You then told Phil, when you found out the genre, that you were BOTH not going. You totally go everywhere together. And you were holding hands this morning!"

"Okay. Since you so obviously aren't going to shut up, I'll at least fight back. Point a, Phil loves sci-fi movies, and he asked me to go with him anyway, and because it was a sci-fi, I said no. Point b, we're best friends, what do you expect us to do? Talk on the phone? And point c, he was helping me up, not holding my hand. Get your facts straight, Olivia," Keely hissed, and then went back to her work.

Via scoffed. "That means nothing. Okay, so he was 'helping you up'," Via said, putting air quotes around the last three words. "But he asked you to go to a movie. He likes you. And you like him. And if you deny it anymore, you will be killed. By me. And then you won't get to make your move."

Keely sighed. "Via. Please. Just do us both a favour and give it a rest."

"I can't. It's in my nature to pry. I have to get you two together if it's the last thing you do," Via begged.

"If you don't shut up, I know what the last thing is that you'll do," Keely muttered.

Via sighed. "Fine. Don't admit it to me. But I will find out the truth."

"And I'm Pippi Longstocking," Keely murmured sarcastically.

Via leaned forward, curiously. "What?"

"Nothing!" Keely sighed. "Jeez…"

* * *

"Philly-cheese Steak!" Owen put his hands on Phil's shoulders, and cried in his ear.

Phil jumped a mile. "Thanks for frightening the life outta me Owen."

"No problemo Phillo," Owen said, and sat in a seat next to Phil.

Miss Winston walked into the room and clapped her hands loudly. "I am your supply teacher for today children! Now, what have you been covering so far?"

"So, Phil. How's it going with Keely?" Owen asked, not bothering to even look at Miss Winston.

Phil wrote down the date on his piece of work. "Um…fine…"

"So why didn't you tell me that you two were going steady?" Owen asked, casually.

Phil's eyes widened, and he almost choked on nothing. "What?"

"Aren't you both going out? Dude…I thought you were," Owen said, but he didn't look bothered by his mistake.

"Well, we're not," Phil said, recovering.

Owen laughed. "But don't say that you don't want to. Because any guy would go out with Keely. You know, if she asked. Because, I mean, she is fine!"

"Would you mind not talking about her like that in front of me," Phil said, uncomfortably. "It's kinda weird."

Owen nodded. "Oh sure mate. I understand. You want her all to yourself."

"No. No that's not it, it's just…" Phil began.

"Dude. I understand," Owen said, holding out a hand. "Keely is all yours."

Phil shook his head. "No, I just feel weird hearing people talk about my best friend like that."

Owen nodded, like he understood, but it was obvious he didn't. "Okay. Whatever Diffster."

Phil sighed. He didn't know why he denied that he like her. But slowly, since their conversation that morning, he had been coming up with an idea of how to tell Keely. And he thought it would work. But he had to outline some very important details.

"So, Diffy. Do you want to come to the mall later? The O-Dawg is going girl-spotting," Owen asked.

Phil was confused. "I thought you wanted to go out with Via. How's getting another girlfriend going to help you get her?"

"You have a lot to learn, my man. If I get another girl, Via will be so jealous, and then I'll know that she likes me, so I can dump the other one, and go after Via," Owen grinned.

Phil tried to think of the words to describe what he wanted to say. "That is…"

Owen nodded. "Genius?"

"Yeah," Phil said, trying to sound as if he meant it. Owen had no chance of working that one. The girl would never go out with him. Via would almost definitely not be jealous, and on the off chance that she might, she wouldn't go out with him once she knew that he was just using the other girl to get with her. Three strikes against it. A record for a plan from Owen.

"So, are you in, or are you in?" Owen asked, grinning.

Phil wrinkled his nose. "Um…Owen, I appreciate the offer, but I'm out."

"No way!" Owen cried, causing kids in front of him to turn round and look at him, strangely.

Phil nodded, sympathetically. "Um, yeah Owen. I have to pass. Much as I'd love to come with you and make Via jealous, I have my own plan to be dealing with."

"Really, tell me more!" Owen said, moving his desk towards Phil's.

Phil leant away from Owen, trying to be discreet, but even if he had done it obviously, he doubted Owen would have noticed. "Do I have to?"

Owen raised his eyebrows. "So…top secret, huh? Well, the O-Dawg can deal with that. He'll find out soon enough anyway…"

"Really," Phil asked intrigued. "How do you plan on doing that?"

Owen just tapped his finger on his nose, and leant back in his chair looking pleased with himself.

"Forget it," Phil said, opening up his book. "I don't think I want to know anyway…"

**What I said in the last chapter, in the Authors Note, I meant I don't care what your objections are about the order I post my fanfics in…not that I don't want your outlook on how much it sucks…or doesn't. Whatever. So, keep reviewing, because I like reading the reviews. It gives me a purpose in life…**

**So keep reading…**

**And it will be a Pheely, whoever asked that…lol. **


	3. My brain isnt broken, just needs repairs

**Chapter 3 - My brain is not damaged, but in need of some repair**

"Does the whole society think we're stupid?" Keely asked as she sat down at the seat opposite Phil.

Phil looked up at her, and raised his eyebrows. "I'm guessing we're excluding Owen from this conversation."

"But honestly, do they really think we're going to eat this muck, and then not sue them when we're 20 and we have major heart problems?" Keely said, as she poked her fork into what looked like salad, but could just as easily have been meat.

Via walked over to Keely, but seeing Phil, she swirled on her feet, and began to cough.

"Oh my god," Keely groaned and threw her fork down.

Phil looked over at Via, who was standing talking to Owen, but kept shooting glances over at their table. "What's going…"

Keely put a finger to his lips. "No. Don't you dare ask, because I will get madder than I am now." She slowly took her hand away, and opened her soda can.

"Okay," Phil said, and sat back in his chair, just watching Keely.

Keely took a drink, and then caught onto the fact that Phil was staring at her. Automatically bringing her hand up to her face, she looked worried. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"No. You're p…you're okay," Phil said, covering up what he was going to say.

Keely smiled, and took another gulp of her drink. "Good. Because I have enough on my plate. I don't need to be looking like a clown right now."

Via came over and sat down, not making eye contact with Keely or Phil.

"Hey Via," Phil said, and broke his gaze from Keely.

Via almost choked on her sandwich, and then forced a smile. "I'm fine. How are you?"

Keely widened her eyes, as Via looked at her. "Via. Don't you have, like a science book to hand back to the library?"

"Nope," Via shook her head. "But if I'm disturbing anything, I'll go…"

Phil laughed. "And what would you be disturbing? Keely's ramblings about how pathetic her life is?"

"Hey!" Keely faked hurt.

Via looked at both of them. "You know what, I think I might be in the middle here…"

Keely grabbed Via's elbow. "No. You're staying," she leaned forward to get the salt, but was actually talking to Via. "And I'm gonna prove that there's nothing going on."

"What was that?" Phil asked.

Both Keely and Via looked up at him. "Nothing."

"Okay, whatever," Phil said, looking at them suspiciously.

"Guys!" Owen yelled, as he sat down opposite Via. "And Via, you are looking charming today."

Via rolled her eyes and looked back down to her sandwich. "Hey Owen…"

Owen nudged Phil, and raised his eyebrows a few times. Phil groaned. Owen couldn't honestly believe that his plan would work. Then again…it was Owen.

"So, Owen. What's up?" Keely said, pushing her lunch away from her.

"Nothing. Much. I was just telling Via that I'm destined to get an A on my next algebra test," Owen grinned.

Keely's eyes swivelled down to her hands. "Yeah, and pigs fly."

"Pigs fly?" Owen asked, seriously.

Phil smiled with sympathy at Owen, and then looked at Keely, smirking.

Keely rolled her eyes at Owen, and then got up. "Guys, I have to go. There's a thing that needs seeing to, in the…um…Broadcast Lab. Phil, can you help me?"

"Sure," Phil said, cottoning on to the fact that Keely just wanted to get away.

Via said goodbye, and then watched as they walked away. Yeah right, there was nothing going on between them.

Keely took a deep breath as they left the cafeteria. "That was intense."

"What?" Phil asked, as they began to walk down the corridor.

Keely followed him. "Having to live another lunchtime, with Owen being stupid, Via being accusative and me and you watching from the sidelines."

"You're really hung up over this, stuck-in-a-rut thing, aren't you?" Phil said.

"Yes. I mean, all my life, I've lived in Pickford, and nothing exciting ever happened to me, until you came," Keely said, extravagantly motioning with her hands, her whole life.

Phil smiled. "I'm glad I could be of assistance."

"And now, the novelty of that has worn off, and now I'm boring again. And I don't want to be boring again," Keely moaned.

"You're not boring Keels," Phil said, sympathetically.

Keely nodded as she opened the door to the Broadcast Lab. "Yes I am! I am stuck in this boring town, with no excitement, no happiness and NO BOYFRIEND!"

"Keels…" Phil winced as Keely announced her life to Mr Hackett, who was sitting waiting in the Broadcast Lab.

Keely gasped as she opened her eyes and saw her Vice-Principal sitting there. "Um…Mr Hackett…I…we were rehearsing for a play. It's called…um…Stuck in the Suburbs…"

"Stuck in the Suburbs?" Phil murmured behind her. "Isn't that a Disney Channel film?"

Keely nodded and whispered back. "Yes, but I had to think of something," and then, bringing her voice back to the perky, loud normal tone, she smiled. "Hey Mr Hackett. So, what're you doing in here?"

Mr Hackett got up, and looked from Keely to Phil, and then back to Keely. "What are you both doing here at lunchtime?"

"We…" Keely tried to think of a reasonable excuse. Broadcast Lab had been banned at lunchtimes unless pupils were editing recently filmed pieces, thanks to Phil's Wizrd. It had gone off, and destroyed reels and reels of film.

Phil nudged Keely with his elbow. "Don't you remember Keels? We have to edit that piece of you talking to Danny Dawkins about the weather."

Mr Hackett looked suspiciously at Phil, but was greeted with a forced smile. The same expression was plastered on Keely's face. "Hmm…well, I only came in here to talk to you about your news broadcast this morning. I wasn't impressed with your opinion on my rules about the fundraiser. Can you please not contradict me? It encourages students to, as well."

Keely nodded. "No problem. I'm sorry. I just…didn't think."

"And your personal life, like whether or not you're going to the movie night, shouldn't be involved at all," Mr Hackett said.

Phil put his thumb up. "Okay. We'll keep that in mind!"

"Thank you," Mr Hackett said, and with one last look around, he left, leaving Phil and Keely standing in the doorway, Phil with his thumb up.

Keely looked over at Phil. "Can you put your thumb down, please?"

Phil did so, and watched Keely flop herself onto the couch, and buried her face in a pillow. "Are you okay Keels?"

"I'm fine. I just announced my life story to my vice-principal, and I'm still stuck in the same old life as before. The world sucks!" Keely screamed.

Phil closed the door. "Keely, calm down."

"Easy for you to say. If things get boring for you, you just hop on a Skyak, morph yourself into Brad Pitt, or whatever, and attend a movie premiere in LA. You get as much excitement as you want. But in the 21st century we aren't as lucky!" Keely groaned.

Phil laughed. "But it's kind of hard when Brad Pitt is already at the premiere."

"You know what I mean. I'm saying, life sucks when you can't change it whenever you want to," Keely said, sitting up.

"Well, it's the kind of life that you can't change that makes the world more exciting. You don't know what comes next," Phil smiled.

Keely rolled her eyes. "Can you stop being so logical? It annoys me."

"I can't help the way I am," Phil grinned.

Which was exactly why Keely liked him. He was himself. And nothing else. No matter how annoyingly logical he got.

**Hm...what to put in the next chapter?**

**Well, until you review, I won't start it. So you can give me ideas, if you have any, of where you want the story to go. I have a rough idea, but if you could fill in the vague areas, I'd be appreciative...**

**Peace out...**


	4. Anticipation has the habit to set you up

**Chapter 4 - Anticipation has the habit to set you up**

Via watched Phil and Keely leave the cafeteria and then smiled. "So, Owen, what did you find out?"

Owen nodded. "Yeah…not much actually."

"And why not? Owen if we're going to make this work, we have to find out as much as possible. Because otherwise, we could just make things worse," Via exclaimed.

Owen shook his head. "Nu-huh. Things couldn't possibly be any worse. I mean, H.G Wells astronauts are getting beat this season. Those trolls are really good football players. You know, considering they're trolls. I mean, I tried to find out the trolls tactics, but they weren't giving anything away."

"Owen!" Via slapped her head onto her hand. "You…I…I don't even know what to say. And the funny thing is, I can't work out if you're being dumb, or really clever."

Owen nodded and took a bite of his sloppy Joe. "Totally, dude."

"What did you find out from Phil?" Via asked slowly.

"Nothing, dude. Phil isn't a Handsome Town High football player, is he? Duh!" Owen said, stupidly.

Via slammed her head on the table. "Oh yeah, it's definitely dumb. No, Owen. What did you find out from Phil about Keely?"

"Oh! You mean if he loves her or not?" Owen practically announced to the whole cafeteria.

Via slapped a hand over his mouth. "Owen…shut up."

"Sorry," Owen muttered through her hand.

Via took her hand away, and looked at Owen expectantly. After a few minutes of waiting, she broke the silence. "So?"

"So what?" Owen asked, taking another bite of his lunch.

"Does he like her, or what?" Via hissed.

Owen shrugged. "I don't know…he was being pretty careful about what he said."

"So you mean to tell me, I went through that whole ordeal, and you have nothing to report?" Via cried, annoyed. It was one thing talking to Owen, but when you talked to him to find an answer, only to find out he had no clue…it was another.

Owen nodded. "So, what did you find out?"

"Not much more than you. But I do actually know that she has a 'thing' for Phil. Because I saw her French book, the only class that neither me, nor Phil is in, and it says 'Keely 4 P.D'. I mean, come on. P.D, Phil Diffy. It's not genius. She denies it," Via said, glad that she knew something more that what Owen had found out.

Owen looked confused for a minute, but then smiled. "Oh. Right. So, she like, loves him."

Via nodded slowly so that he got the message. "So, what do you think we should do about it?"

"Um…nothing," Owen said, knowing that it wasn't the right answer.

Via shook her head. "Nope. We have to come up with a sure fire plan. They can't go on denying how they feel about each other."

"You can't go on denying how you feel about me," Owen smiled, trying to get Via to agree to one date.

Via rolled her eyes. "Trust me, I can deny at least one more time."

Owen groaned, and shoved the last bite of sloppy Joe into his mouth. "Oh wot u wont tyo dyo ubowt t?"

"What?" Via asked.

Owen swallowed. "I said, what do you want to do about it?"

Via groaned. "Um…well…we could…"

"We could, what?" Owen asked.

Via looked up at the ceiling. "Wait a minute…yes…I think I'm getting something!"

* * *

Keely sat in the Broadcast Lab, and re-wrote her script for the next day. "This script sucks. I report the same stuff every single day. Lunch. Weather. The latest casualties, blah, blah, blah."

"Latest casualties?" Phil enquired.

Keely nodded. "Oh yeah. Phil, this school has about a thousand people in it. Chances are, one gets hurt, each day. If we're lucky."

"Lucky?" Phil asked.

Keely smiled. "Well obviously not for them."

Phil sat next to her. "So, spice it up a bit."

"How?" Keely asked, doodling on the bit of paper. "I mean, we are in Boringsville, U.S.A."

Phil grinned. "If you look hard enough, you'll find something. It could be right under your nose. But obviously not literally..."

"Okay, I looked under my nose,like once. And I had, had no sleep," Keely defended herself.

Phil rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say Keels. Whatever you say…"

"Oh, you asked for it!" Keely cried, and picked up a pillow, and swung it at him.

Soon, the news was forgotten, and only the pillow fight mattered.

And, as Phil's pillow swept across the table, it knocked the piece of paper that Keely had been doodling onto the floor, under the sofa. Forgotten.

**I know it's not as long as the last chapters, because the others had like, three pages, and this one only had two. So it is shorter. Plus it only has, 800 words or so in it. But the next one will be longer. This chapter is kind of important. Maybe…it depends how I feel. **


	5. Trying to figure out what I am all about

**Chapter 5 - You're always trying to figure out, what I am all about**

"Phil!" Via called from across the hallway.

Phil turned, and seeing it was Via, he grinned. "Sorry. Didn't know who it was."

"Who else do you know with an English accent?" Via said rolling her eyes. "Honestly, sometimes you're as bad as Owen."

Phil smacked the sides of his mouth. "Oh no, say it's not so!"

Via smiled. "Look, can you tell me something?"

"Well…that all depends," Phil said.

Via folded her arms across her chest. "Depends on what?"

"On what I get out of telling you it," Phil said copying her poise.

"Well…" Via thought, trying to think what he'd get out of it. She didn't want to tell him that he'd get Keely, because that would ruin the whole thing. "Um…I tell you what, I'll be Owen's lab partner for the rest of the semester."

Phil grimaced. "Well, it also depends on what you want me to tell you. There are some things in my mind that are worth more than that."

"I want you to tell me if you, like someone. I don't need to know who it is. I just need to know if you, you know, fancy anybody," Via got to the point.

"I'm sorry. I don't part with confidential information like that," Phil said, and turned away.

Via groaned. "Why will nobody tell me this stuff?"

Phil looked at her as he put his old class books in his locker. "Why do you need to know?"

"For a project. For social studies. We never had to do social studies in England, so I kind of suck at it. I only have to find out what type of girl you like, and then I'm gonna hand that in. Who cares if I get a C, right?" Via smiled.

Phil closed his locker. "Okay. What do you want to know?"

"The types of things you look for in girls. That sort of stuff," Via said. "Thanks Phil. I owe you."

Phil nodded. "Yes. You do."

Via produced a sheet of paper, and got out a pen. "Fire away. So, Phil, looks or personality?"

"Personality," Phil said, leaning against his locker.

Via waved her hand. "Specific, please…"

"Well, they have to be funny. Make me laugh. And they have to be nice. Because if they were a mass murderer, I don't think I'd agree to go out with them," Phil grinned.

Via laughed. "I dunno. If they were cute maybe…"

"I hope that was a joke," Phil said. "Um…I'd like her to be unafraid to be herself. If they were a clone of every other girl, then I'd be sort of unsure. And they have to know what they're good at. And I hate girls who complain about being fat, or being unable to do something. Someone kind of clever. They don't have to be Einstein, but they have to be able to string a sentence together."

Via jotted this down. "And looks? I mean, they can be open to change, but what would you pick right now?"

"Um…" Phil thought for a minute. "Green eyes. They look so cool. And blonde hair. It makes a change from the plain blonde-blue combination."

Via smiled secretly. He had described Keely perfectly. "Anything else?"

"Yeah," Phil grinned. "Not too much make-up. It makes girls look a bit weird if they have 10 inches of the stuff on their faces."

"Okay," Via said, and finished writing it down. "Thank you so much Phil! I totally owe you. Anytime you need anything!"

Phil grinned. "I'll take you up on that."

"Thank you again!" Via said, and ran down the hallway. When she turned the corner, she stopped, and looked at the piece of paper. "Phil Diffy, you so like Keely."

* * *

"Keels!" Owen said, walking into the Broadcast Room. "Whoa. What'cha doing?"

Keely looked up from where she was hunting the floor. "Looking for a piece of paper. If Phil finds it…"

"What?" Owen asked.

Keely looked up at him. "What, what?"

Owen tilted his head to one side. "What will Phil do if he finds it?"

"Nothing," Keely said quickly, and sat up. "What do you want Owen?"

Owen thought for a minute. "I have no idea…"

"Okay," Keely said. "So, why don't you go have no idea, somewhere that isn't here."

"Huh?" Owen scratched his head. "Oh, wait a minute…Can you answer a few questions?"

"It depends what they are," Keely said, and stood up. She was obviously not going to find that piece of paper while Owen was here.

Owen sat down on the couch in the middle of the room. "Well, I was wondering, if you wanted to go out sometime…"

If Keely hadn't been suspicious already, she probably would have strangled Owen until she found out who had set him up. "Thanks for the offer Owen, but no thank you."

"Oh. Okay," he said, and then sat, biting his nails.

Now Keely knew for sure that something weird was up. Owen never just let it go. He would persist, and persist until you either killed yourself, or killed him. "So…you said questions. Plural. Do you have any other questions, or was it just an Owen moment?"

"Oh no, I have other questions. So, you won't go out with me?" Owen asked once more.

Keely shook her head. "Not in this lifetime, or any other for that matter."

"Right. So what kind of guy would you go out with?" Owen asked. Subtlety wasn't Owen's strong point.

"Um…can you try that one again?" Keely asked, not sure what or why Owen was asking her.

Owen shrugged. "What do you look for in a guy? Do they have to be handsome? Or geeky? Or funny? Or boring? I need the details, dude."

"Um…and why do you need to know?" Keely said, sitting down on the coffee table.

"Jeez, I was just asking!" Owen exclaimed.

Keely rolled her eyes. "Fine. Um…well…I like people who make me laugh. If they're boring as a stick, I would just have to kill myself. And they'd have to be nice. Because there is no way I would go out with a murderer. They might murder me next. You never know. I guess someone who's cute. Because if I married the guy, I wouldn't want to wake up and look at someone who had a uni-brow, and had more spots than a Dalmatian."

"Okay," Owen said slowly. "And what about looks? Any preferences?"

Keely smiled. Owen's dumbness made her smile. "Well, brown or blue eyes. And brown hair. Because blonde hair on me, and the guy would look pretty weird. I mean, brown hair on two people is okay, because the majority of people have brown hair. But blonde… Yeah, so brown hair. But to be honest, as long as they're nice, funny, and like me as much as I like them, it'll be perfect."

"Perfect, huh?" Owen grinned.

Keely looked at him. "Was that all?"

"Yeah," Owen nodded.

"Good," Keely said, and pulled him up, and pushed him out of the door.

Owen stopped just before Keely closed it. "Wait! So are you sure about not going out with me?"

"Never been more sure of anything in my life," Keely smiled, and then shut the door.

Owen smiled as he walked down the hallway. "Good, because I'm saving myself for Via."

* * *

Via sat in the deserted classroom, waiting for Owen. "Where is the doofus?" She got up, and opened the door, to look out.

"Via!" Owen cried as he walked down the hallway. "Sorry I'm late, I got carried away talking to Keely."

Via pulled him into the classroom. "Owen, what did you find out?"

"Nu-uh…you first," Owen grinned.

"Whatever," Via said, pulling out the piece of paper se had reported her findings on. "Read it."

Owen took it and screwed up his eyes as he read it.

Via rolled her eyes. "Give it back. Basically he said that his perfect girl, is Keely."

"Well, Keely said her perfect guy is Phil," Owen summed up.

Via nodded. "I knew it."

Owen sat down on the chair next to her, and put his head on his palm. "So, what do we do?"

"Hmm…" Via pressed her lips together. "Well…we know that they like each other. We knew before. It was obvious. Now we need to get them together."

Owen shrugged. "Are you sure they won't do it on their own?"

"Positive," Via nodded.

And if they wouldn't get their act together on their own, then someone needed to do it for them. And Via was going to be that someone.

**This chapter took me like, a week to write…wow. That might not seem long to you, but it is to me, and it's still not right in my mind. Maybe it won't be in yours, but to me it's not right. **


	6. Heart's racing, loving you is beautiful

**Chapter 6 - And my heartbeat's racing, 'cause loving you is beautiful**

"Keely!" Mandy Teslow called up to her daughter, after she had let Phil into the house. "My, my, you're early today. I think Keely might still be in her room. Sleeping probably. She never was one to wake up on time."

Phil smiled. "I can imagine that."

"Keely Teslow, get your butt out of bed now!" Mandy called up the stairs. "I tell you what. Phil, you have my full permission, to go upstairs into my daughter's bedroom, and whack her with the nearest thing that you find."

Phil nodded, hoping that she was joking. He didn't want to whack Keely. With anything. "Um…okay Mrs Teslow."

He waited until Mandy had retired into the kitchen, and he heard the kettle going on, before going upstairs. He had never been upstairs in Keely's house without her being with him. Without her being awake. But he had Mrs Teslow's permission. So why did he feel guilty about being up here?

He knocked slowly on Keely's bedroom door. There was no answer. "Keels?" he whispered, as he pushed the door open slowly.

The first thing that struck him was the sheer mess of the room. It was like a hurricane had hit. Phil wrinkled his nose. He had been in this century for two years, and he still hadn't seen Keely wearing all of these things.

Then he looked over at Keely, who was lying, her eyes closed, her face framing her face beautifully. One arm was on her pillow, the other under her duvet, and she had pink pyjamas on. She looked so beautiful sleeping.

He was about to reach out and touch her face, when her eyes flickered open. A look of shock registered on her face, and she rolled over, forgetting that she was already on the edge.

"Flipping heck!" Keely cried, as she fell out of her bed onto the floor. Phil jumped back, before her body hit his foot, and tried to stifle a giggle.

"Phil, you scared the heck out of me!" Keely said, and stood up. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking before you come in?"

Phil managed to keep a straight face. "I did. You were in such a deep sleep you didn't hear me."

"Well I'm definitely not sleeping anymore," Keely said, rubbing her head where it had hit the floor.

"Well then my mission is accomplished," Phil laughed.

Keely put her hands on her hips. "Phil, get out into the damn hallway, and wait for me to get ready."

"Yes, you're Majesty," Phil bowed, and left the room.

Keely threw a top at him as he left, and then rolled her eyes. "So, you'd better have a reason for waking me up in that unorthodox way."

Phil leaned up against the door outside. "I do actually."

"Enlighten me," Keely said, as she pulled a pair of jeans out of her closet. She held them up against them, and then grimaced. "Hmm…I feel like wearing a skirt today. Phil, it's not raining, is it?"

Phil rolled his eyes. "No, Keely, it's California, four weeks before the holidays. I think it's safe to say that it won't be raining outside."

"Great!" Keely exclaimed, choosing to ignore the sarcasm in his voice. She looked around for her favourite skirt.

Phil laughed silently. She was so cute when she ignored what she didn't want to hear. "I wanted to ask you what you look for in a guy."

"What?" Keely screeched. "Not you too!"

Phil was confused. "What? Via asked me to ask you."

"Well, Owen asked me yesterday," Keely said, pulling the skirt over her thighs and then grabbed a hairbrush. "So why does everyone want to know all of a sudden?"

"Via told me it was for a Social Studies project," Phil said.

Keely scrunched up her eyes. "Um…Phil, Via came too late in the semester to join a social studies class."

Phil was shocked, and began to open the door. "Wha.."

"Stay out there!" Keely yelled.

Phil closed the door shocked. "What? But I told her…but…what?"

Keely laughed. "You fell for that? She told you that she had to hand in a social studies project, and so you spilled out your soul to her. Only you would fall for that Phil."

"Well it looks like you told everything to Owen," Phil remarked, causing Keely to stop laughing abruptly. "So I guess I'm not that stupid."

Keely folded her arms over her pyjama top. "Why would they want to know that though?"

"I have no idea," Phil said, tilting his head back onto the door.

Keely sighed. "I think I know…"

"Really?" Phil said, curious to why Via had been so desperate to know.

"Yeah. Let me talk to her," Keely groaned. She picked up a t-shirt off the floor, and pulled it over her head. "Phil, you can come in now."

Phil opened the door, and smiled at Keely, who was buttoning up a sheer shirt over her top. "You look nice."

"Thanks," Keely smiled. A compliment about her outfit wasn't as bad coming from Phil. It made her feel fuzzy inside for some reason.

"No problem," Phil said, and looked at his feet.

Keely looked embarrassed for a second, but then looked around her room and sighed. "This place is a tip. Mum'll go insane when she sees it."

"Well, we can't have that, can we?" Phil smiled, and pulled out his Wizrd.

Keely grinned. "Thanks Phil, I owe you one."

"Hey, you fell out of bed because of me. Call it even," Phil laughed.

Keely rolled her eyes. "It's not funny. My head kills. If I have concussion, I'm suing you."

"Yeah, right!" Phil laughed.

* * *

Via stood next to her locker, trying to outline the details of her plan. Unfortunately, they would have to work quickly, before Phil and Keely found out what they'd done. Otherwise it could all fall apart.

"Via!" Keely came running down the hallway. "I have a bone to pick with you."

Via gulped. The plan was falling in shreds around her already. "Oh yeah?"

"You quizzed Phil about his perfect girl, for 'social studies'. Vi, you don't take social studies. And Owen does the same to me, in a less subtle way. I want to know about it all. And how it ties in with the delusion you have that I am in love with Phil," Keely folded her arms across her green blouse.

Via knew it would be useless to protest. "Okay. I asked Phil, because I wanted to prove that I was right. And I was. You described Phil as your perfect guy. Well, according to Owen anyway."

Keely wanted to ask. She had to ask. And she knew how it would look, but she wanted to know. "And Phil?"

A knowing smile crossed Via's face. "He described his perfect girl as an exact replicate of you."

"Oh," Keely said. She was glad. Inside she was screaming. But the look on Via's face showed her that she may as well have been screaming. Apparently, her face gave it all away.

Via grinned. "I knew I was right!"

"Via…" Keely began.

"I knew I was right, but no, I was being delusional, and I was being stupid, seeing things that weren't there," Via ignored Keely.

Keely sighed. "Via, please…"

"It's always been obvious, and I knew, even when you told me I was wrong, but whatever…" Via kept going.

Keely groaned. "Via, will you just SHUT UP!"

"Sorry," Via apologised. Then she noticed the red bump on Keely's forehead. "Keely, what happened to your head?"

Keely reached up and felt the bump. "Oh, Phil made me fall out of bed."

"What?" Via exclaimed. "What was Phil doing in your room? And how did he make you fall out of bed? Keely?"

But Keely had already turned the corner. There was no way she was telling Via everything she wanted to know. Not in one day, anyway.

**I'm sorry that Heal Over isn't working…if it still doesn't work later tonight, I'll delete it, and then re-post it. It's obviously working for some people, as I have a few reviews, but apparently not anymore. **

**And I hope you like this chapter. It seemed realistic to me. I like this one. **


	7. Sometimes smart girls can be so dumb

**Chapter 7 - Sometimes smart girls can be so dumb**

Keely and Phil walked into their math class and sat down.

"My head hurts," Keely sighed slamming her books down.

Phil rolled his eyes. "Quit complaining. You were the one that rolled out of bed and hit your head."

"But you were the one in my room at 8.00 in the morning," Keely pointed out.

Phil laughed. "But you were the one still sleeping at that time."

"It's not my fault you rung me up to ask me about homework late last night, is it?" Keely defended herself.

Phil watched as Mr Hackett stalked up to the front of the class. He had always been suspicious of Phil, and it always made Phil uncomfortable to be in the same room as him for more than two minutes. "Whatever Keely."

"Don't you 'whatever Keely' me. Because I'm not the one at fault here," Keely said.

"I'll be handing your tests back now," Mr Hackett announced, and produced a pile of papers.

Keely groaned. "I did so badly on this test."

"Keely, you totally understand algebra now. You rock at it. You honestly don't have to worry," Phil reassured her.

As Mr Hackett weaved around the desks, and handed back graded papers. Kids groaned or punched the air as they read the grades. Keely knew that she had done badly. Seeing as she had only answered 2 out of the 20 questions.

"Miss Teslow. This paper proves you seemed somewhat distracted," Mr Hackett said, passing back a paper with a huge D scrawled across the front.

Keely blushed. Phil had been on her mind that day. He had done something she had found adorably cute, or something like that. "Um…sorry Mr Hackett."

Mr Hackett looked at her for a second. "Keep working hard Miss Teslow. I'm sure this was just a bad day."

"This sucks," Keely whispered, looking at the test paper in front of her. "Phil, I thought you said I understood algebra now."

Phil tore his eyes away from his A, and looked over Keely's shoulder. "I thought you did."

"Well I obviously don't. Because I got a D!" Keely hissed.

Phil rolled his eyes. "Not exactly my problem, is it?"

"It will be your problem, when I don't get to become a broadcaster, because then your stupid Giggle will be wrong. And I will skin you alive," Keely muttered.

"What was that?" Phil asked, pretending he didn't hear what Keely said.

"Nothing," Keely said, flicking through the papers of her test. "I am so dumb."

Phil put his hand on her shoulder. "You're not dumb Keels. You just don't get algebra."

"Or French. Or Science. Or your sarcastic jokes," Keely listed glumly.

Phil laughed. "Yeah. But that's what makes you, you."

Keely rolled her eyes. "You mean dumb?"

"No! Keely, you got a D on one test. We'll just cover that part more tonight," Phil said. "I mean, if you want me to help you…"

Keely looked over at Phil. "Thanks, Phil."

"No problem," Phil said, looking over at Keely and smiling. An evening in with Keely? It was no problem at all.

* * *

"Muffin-cake!" Mrs Teslow called up the stairs to her daughter. "Phone!"

Keely sighed, and picked up the extension in her room. "Hello?"

"Keely!" Via screamed down the phone.

"What?" Keely groaned, holding the phone away from her ear.

Via took a deep breath. "Tanner asked me out!"

"Did I not tell you about Tanner?" Keely twirled her hair round her finger. "Vi, don't go out with him. He's a total two timing jerk. You'd be better going out with Owen."

Via sighed. "Figures. He's too cute to be nice."

"Hey! Phil's cute and he's nice. And I'm adorable, and I'm the nicest person in the world," Keely grinned.

"But Phil is your property. Total hands-off for anyone else," Via said. "And that rocks. Because you two are totally made for each other. I just wish someone liked me that much. And don't you dare say Owen."

Keely had been going to say Owen, but unfortunately Via always read her mind. "Fine, I won't say it. But you hassled me, so I think it's my turn. Via, Owen really likes you. He hasn't been out with anyone since you came. That must be some sort of record. Why won't you give him a chance?"

"The same reason you didn't," Via snapped.

Keely rolled her eyes. "You were saving yourself for Phil? Wow, Via, I never knew!"

"No. Because he's not the sharpest knife in the cupboard. That was why you didn't go out with him when he asked you, wasn't it? That's what you told me anyway," Via said.

Keely laughed. "I thought you were smarter than that Via. I told you that to stop you guessing that I liked Phil. Guess that didn't work. Or maybe I just got more obvious. And you should know better than to judge Owen on how he appears."

"Keely, please don't do this…" Via pleaded.

Keely kept going though. "Via, you're also unbelievably smart. Owen will seem dumb compared to you. I'm dumb. I got a D in Math today. Which reminds me, I have to go round Phil's so that he can tutor me. I suck without his help."

"Keely, you're not dumb," Via insisted.

"And neither is Owen," Keely replied sharply.

Via sighed. "I'll talk to you later Keely. Have fun at your tutoring session, or whatever."

"Bye, Vi," Keely said, and hung up. She felt a bit mean for guilt-tripping Via, but Via had done it to her. And she wasn't denying that she liked Phil because he was dumb. Owen wasn't completely dumb. He was just a bit…ditzy. Like her.

Via tossed the phone to one side, and sighed. She knew that she liked Owen, but it was just easier to be mean to him than to be nice. But now that Keely had found her out, she didn't know how much more she could take.

**1000 words exactly. Well, according to my computer word count. It might not say the same on here. It's weird like that. **

**The truth is, I have no idea where this story is going. It just flows out, and I'm not sure if it's making any sense, so if it's not, please tell me. And if it is, review. And tell me that you like it. Because I seriously want more reviews! **


	8. Can be your hero, Can kiss away the pain

**Chapter 8 - I can be your hero, baby, I can kiss away the pain**

Keely sat chewing the end of her pencil. It was 8.00 at night, and she had been pretending not to understand for the past four hours. It was time to finally get it. And then maybe Phil would walk her home.

"Keely? Earth to Keely!" Phil said, waving a hand in front of Keely's face. "Is anyone in?"

Keely snapped out of her daydream, and smiled. "Sorry. I drifted off for a minute there."

"I could tell," Phil nodded. "Now, do you understand this?"

Keely pushed her hair out of her face, and stared at the problem on the page. "Um…is it…x2?"

"You got it!" Phil exclaimed.

"I did?" Keely faked shock. It was actually very easy. Acting like she was shocked.

Phil put his arm round her. "Great! I knew you'd get it eventually Keels. Even if it took all night."

"You would have stayed up all night with me, just so I'd get a better grade on an algebra exam? Why?" Keely asked.

Phil blushed for a second, but quickly recovered. "Because you're my best friend. Why wouldn't I want you to get a good grade?"

"I dunno. It's like asking me why I wouldn't want to help you get a good grade in English or something," Keely shrugged. "I'd help you no matter what."

Phil nodded. "Exactly. Same for me. No matter what."

"Um…" Keely began to start a sentence, but then she shook her head. "No."

"What?"

Keely lifted her head. "Do you think that best friends make cute couples?"

Phil was surprised to hear her ask this. "Well, if they both like each other. And they get on well. And they're a guy and a girl. Then yeah, why not?"

Keely smiled. "Cool."

"Why did you want to know?" Phil asked, wondering if it was what he wanted it to be.

Keely gulped. She had known that he'd get suspicious, but she hadn't thought about what to say. "Um…well…Via likes Owen, and I just wondered what you thought about those two, who are best friends, becoming a couple."

"Oh," Phil said. He felt almost relieved that it hadn't been what he had thought. Not because he didn't want to go out with Keely. Just because he didn't want his careful planning to be ruined. He wanted it to be just right.

"Is that okay with you then? Via and Owen?" Keely asked, making sure.

Phil nodded. "Sure. We guessed something was up when they went off together after the Ladies Choice Dance. I mean, we all go in together, and then Owen and Via go off. It was a bit obvious."

Keely grinned and nodded. "So I wasn't the only one that noticed? Good. Because if I had been, then you would have accused me of meddling again."

"Yeah," Phil nodded. At least she hadn't interfered this time. Last time he had to sit and pretend to be out with another girl, when the one he wanted was sitting right next to him.

Pim walked in and made a bee-line for the fridge. "Oh look, Blondie is here. You never would have guessed it, would you?"

Keely looked up at Phil. "I'd better be going home…"

"You could stay for another half hour. Teen House is on," Phil offered. "I mean, if you wanted to."

Keely smiled. "Yeah. I'd like that Phil."

"I'd like that Phil," Pim mimicked. "Pass me a bucket, I'm gonna be sick!"

Phil rolled his eyes, and Keely laughed.

"Yeah, that's right. Gang up on the youngest. Bullies!" Pim cried, as Phil and Keely left the kitchen and walked into the living room. "Whatever."

--

The phone rang in the Diffy household. Pim ran and picked it up, ensuring that nobody else got the chance to talk. If it was one of her clients, she would be busted if someone else picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Is Keely there?" Via cried.

Pim rolled her eyes. "I don't know a Keely."

"Pim! I need to speak to Keely urgently. She needs to get to the hospital. Like, now!" Via said.

"Look, there's no one called Keely here. There's Little Miss - " Pim started, but was cut off by Phil yanking the receiver out of her hands.

"Hello?" Phil asked.

Via sighed with relief. "Phil, can you get Keely over to the hospital as soon as possible? It's her dad. He's really ill."

"Okay. We'll be there in five minutes," Phil promised.

Via was confused. "But how? I mean, the hospital is a mile away. There's no way you're getting here in five minutes. You can't drive. You don't have a car."

"But I have the next best thing," Phil said, and produced a red glowing ball. "Later Via."

--

"What did Via say again?" Keely asked for the thousandth time, as Phil put the Skyak ball back in his pocket.

Phil grabbed her arm and pulled her round to the frotn of the hospital. "She said that your dad was gravely ill, and that we need to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Well, we're here. Now get in there!"

Keely ran inside, and up to the information desk. "Um, can you help me? Apparently my dad has been brought in. His name is David. David Teslow."

The receptionist found the ward number, and gave Keely directions. Both her and Phil ran up to the lift, and Phil pressed the button urgently.

"Phil, my dad won't die, will he?" Keely asked.

Phil shrugged. "We don't know what the matter is yet, do we? And we can't make assumptions until we know how much danger he's in."

They got out of the lift, and ran to the ward. Mandy was standing outside.

"Keely!" She sobbed, her arms outstretched.

Keely fell into her mom's arms, and let her hug her. "Mom? What's the matter? With dad?"

"Apparently he's had cancer for a long time. He chose not to tell us because he didn't want us to worry," Mandy said, pulling a tissue out from her sleeve. "Yeah right. And now that we know we're not worrying at all. Keely, it doesn't look good. He wants to see you. And I think you should see him."

Keely nodded. "I want to see him too, mom."

"I'll wait here," Phil said. He didn't want to intrude on something that seemed so personal.

Keely shook her head. "No. You have to come in with me Phil. I don't want my dad to see me cry. So you have to come in with me. You make me stronger somehow."

"Okay," Phil whispered.

Keely took Phil's hand, but the nerves stopped the tingly feeling from occurring. Or maybe it did occur. And that's why she felt stronger all of a sudden. "Thanks for this Phil."

"No problem," Phil said.

Keely opened the door to the ward, and walked in, hoping that she would find her father sitting up, fine.

She didn't.

He was lying down, with wires and tubes attached to him. Keely gasped, but kept the tears back. Her dad needed her to be strong. So strong she was going to be.

"Hi dad," she whispered.

Her father's eyes flickered open at the sound of her voice. "Keely…"

"I'm here dad. I'm here," Keely said, feeling like a mother of a child who had just had a nightmare.

She hoped that that was all this was. A nightmare. That she would wake up now, and her mom would be stroking her head, telling her that it was all a bad dream.

"And who's this?" her dad's eyes flickered onto Phil, who's hand was still trapped by Keely's.

Keely looked at Phil and smiled. "This is my best friend Dad. This is Phil. I've todl you about him. On the phone."

"Oh, so this is Phil," her dad smiled, weakly.

Phil nodded. "That's me. Sir."

"Sir?" Keely raised her eyebrows.

David laughed, even if it was a small laugh. "I haven't been called sir since I was a teacher. And even then, it was only once. Call me David, Phil. Even though you probably won't have to call me anything soon."

Keely's eyes filled with tears. Her policy not to cry was never going to work. "Don't say that Dad. You'll get through this. I'll help. And so will mom. Heck, Phil will do all he can. You just have to get better."

"Keely, I'm not getting any better. I'm getting worse. And all I need you to do is to be here. Talk to me. That's all you can do, sweetheart," her dad spoke.

Keely shook her head, the tears streaming down her cheeks now. "No. No. You're going to get through this. God can't let you die. It wouldn't be right."

"Honey. God gave me you. He gave me this life. He gave me one healthy, happy life. I can't ask for anything else from God. He's given me enough," David said.

Keely shook her head. "So you're just going to give up?"

David shook his head slowly. "No. I'm not giving up. I'm not going down without a fight. But I will go down."

"With that attitude you will. But not if you don't believe you are," Keely demanded. "Please, dad. Fight this. For me."

David nodded. "I'll try. For you. But please don't hate me if I can't."

"I won't," Keely said, hugging him. "I promise. I could never hate you. You're my dad."

**Sorry to spring that one up on you, but it had to be done. The story was getting boring. So now you have another storyline to be following. Phil's plan. Via's plan. Via and Owen. And now Keely and her dad. **

**I think this is probably my longest chapter. I dunno, I'll have to check. But it looks like it. **

**Review people!**


	9. Never gonna see me cry the last goodbye

**Chapter 9 - But you're never gonna see me cry the last goodbye**

Keely walked out of the hospital room, and just burst into tears. "Mom, will dad die?"

Mandy and Phil looked at each other. They knew the chances, but they weren't sure if Keely could take the truth right now.

"Well, I'm sure the hospital staff are trying their best. I mean, they probably hate it when one of their patients dies, so they'll be trying to save him," Phil reassured her.

Mandy looked at him, and mouthed 'thank you.' She couldn't stand telling her daughter the truth. She almost resented the truth now.

"Keely, why don't you go home with your mom. I'll walk back myself," Phil said.

Mandy shook her head. "Phil Diffy, you are not walking home in the pitch black. I'll give you a lift."

"I don't want to intrude…" Phil began, but looked over at Keely's pleading face and relented. "Okay. Thanks Mrs. Teslow."

Mandy looked at her daughter, who had wrapped her arms around Phil, and smiled. It wasn't the time for smiling, she knew that, but her daughter had such good friends. And she was glad of that. Keely had friends that were there for her, no matter what. "You guys go ahead. I have a few things to say to your father before we go."

"Okay," Keely whispered, and her and Phil began to walk up the hallway which was bustling with nurses and doctors, all ready to swap shifts.

Mandy waited until they were round the corner, and then she pushed open the door. "David?"

"Mandy," David whispered, hoarsely. "I'm sorry."

Mandy nodded. "I know you are. I'm sorry too. Sorry that we split. Sorry for everything. But that's not why I'm here."

"Keely…" David began, knowing that his daughter was the purpose of Mandy's visit.

"Yes. And her friend," Mandy said.

David smiled, remembering the way his daughter and her 'best friend' had reacted around each other. "Is that really all they are?"

Mandy nodded. "For now, anyway."

"We used to be like that," David murmured.

Mandy's eyes glazed over as she remembered the way her and David when they were young. "Yes. We were. So, I guess that means that you approve of Phil and Keely."

"Well, from what I can see, there's no reason for them not to be together. There were no visible tattoos, no piercing, and she seems to be smitten," David forced a weak smile. "She'll need him. When I'm…"

Mandy bit her lip. "Yes. She will. I'm going to bring her here everyday. You're going to see your daughter everyday, until…"

"I die," David said bluntly, and then smiled at the look on his ex-wife's face. "Mandy, we can't be afraid of saying it. I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid of leaving Keely here with nobody to look after her. But she'll have you. And Phil. And if she can move on, then so can I. Peacefully."

"David…" Mandy whispered, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Mandy, you have to be strong. For Keely. I am. And I'm the one dying of cancer. You underestimate our daughter. She's strong, and independent, and she'll get through this. Probably better than you will," David said, taking his ex-wife's hand.

Mandy nodded. "She will. Get through it better than I will."

A nurse came over, and explained that it was time for Mandy to leave.

"David, I'm so sorry," Mandy said.

David shrugged. "For what? You didn't cause me to get cancer. You did what was probably right at the time. Took my daughter away for her own safety. You haven't told her what happened?"

"No. I want her to love you. Like I do," Mandy whispered.

David smiled. "Thank you."

"I owe you," Mandy said, softly. Then she kissed him, briefly on the cheek. "I have to go. Keely and Phil are waiting in the car."

David smiled. "Yes, then you'd better go."

"Goodbye David," Mandy whispered, and then, she was gone.

The drive home was a sombre one. Phil didn't know what to say. Keely didn't want to say any of the things that were buzzing around in her head. Only Mandy spoke.

"Apparently, if they catch treatment early enough, they could have a chance of saving him," Mandy tried to be cheerful, knowing that the chances were very slim.

Keely raised her head. "They don't have a chance."

"Keely…" Mandy said, surprised at her loss of faith.

Keely wrinkled her nose. "No, mom. They don't have a chance. He left it too long, just hoping that it'd go away. But it didn't. They can't save him now. Can they Phil?"

Phil didn't know what to say. Should he side with Keely? Or lead her on? "Um…"

"Plus, he told me himself. He doesn't want to fight. He doesn't love me enough," Keely said, and a tear fell down her cheek.

Mandy slammed on the brake. "Keely Ann Teslow, don't you dare say that again. Your father loves you very much. And you know it."

The sound of car horns from behind her, made Mandy begin to drive again.

"Mom, I haven't seen my dad for five years. He doesn't know anything about me," Keely snapped.

Mandy turned a corner. "Keely, he talks to you on the phone every week. He knows you. And he loves you."

"Whatever," Keely muttered.

Phil looked out of the window, recognising his street, relieved that he didn't have to put up with the tension much longer. "Mrs Teslow, I'll just get out here. If that's okay."

"Sure Phil. I'll make sure you get into your house," Mrs Teslow said, and parked on the sidewalk.

Phil said goodbye to Keely, but it wasn't even registered. Deciding she just needed time to think it all through, he got out of the car, and began to walk up the street to his house. Maybe things would be better in the morning.

* * *

Something woke Keely up at one o'clock in the morning. She looked around her room. There was nothing, or nobody strange in there. Nothing outside the window. She hadn't remembered something that she had to do. It was all very strange.

The phone began to ring, sounding eerie in the silence of the house. She heard her mother get up, and answer it. She heard the 'hello.' Then she heard the sobs.

And then she knew why she had woken up at one o'clock in the morning. One of those freaky bonds that people had. She had woken up, at the exact moment that her dad had died.

A tear fell down her face, and she knew that there were much more to come.

**Another update. You might get say, two more by the time I have to go away, which is on Wednesday. And I'll be away, until Tuesday, so you'll get two more, at least, before then. Hopefully anyway. **


	10. Don't even say it, I got my eyes shut

**Chapter 9 - Don't even say it, I got my eye's shut.**

"Mom, please don't make me do this," Keely begged, one last time before she was pushed out the door.

Keely and her mom had been up since the phone call, and now they stood, ready to try to face another day. Well, her mother was ready. Keely just wanted to go back to bed and cry.

Apparently her father died very quickly. Before the staff even knew. He went quietly apparently. Never made a sound. Peaceful.

"I don't want to go to school, mom," Keely pleaded. She had never looked worse. Even when Phil had used the Giggle, and she had decided to give up, as she was looking at a bleak future.

Mandy shook her tangled hair. "No. Your father would have wanted you to look towards the future. He would have wanted us to get on with our lives. And that's what we're doing. Heading towards the future."

"Well, seeing as I'm heading to Phil's house, then yeah," Keely muttered, making sure her mother didn't hear. "Mom…"

Mandy shook her head again. "Keely, you're going. Do you want a lift to Phil's house?"

"No," Keely declined the offer. "I want time to think."

Mandy nodded. It was hard for her, but she had no idea how hard it must be for Keely to process. Her father, had been admitted, and died all in one night. "See you later muffin."

"Bye," Keely whispered, and began to walk slowly to Phil's house.

_Why my dad? What had he ever done to deserve cancer? To deserve to lose everything? If he really loved me, then he shouldn't have left. He promised that he'd try to fight. But he didn't. Slipped away peacefully. Whatever. _

_They said that he'd probably live another few weeks at least. Well so much for that prognosis. He's dead now. One day. Not even that. He didn't last one, stinking day. So much for fighting the illness. He practically lay down and let it kill him. _

Phil's house was only round the corner, and pretty soon she was ringing the doorbell.

Pim answered. "Well, if it isn't Little Miss Sunshine. What are you doing here?"

"Is your brother walking to school?" Keely whispered.

Pim cocked her head to one side. "Gee, I don't know. He's debating about flying in, to the actual building on the Skyak."

"I'm not in the mood for sarcasm, Pim," Keely said, feeling the tears prickle in the back of her eyes.

"Oh look, she's gonna cry," Pim pouted.

Keely wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "Pim, can you just get Phil, please?"

"There's a rain cloud over Little Miss Sunshine's head," Pim teased, laughing at Keely.

Keely slammed her fist against the door frame. "Pim, just get Phil, now!"

Phil heard Keely shouting, and ran out to see what the matter was. "Keels?"

"I'm early today. So you don't have to come and wake me up. Well, you wouldn't have had to anyway. Me and mom were awake. We have been since one o'clock," Keely said, her voice in an emotionless tone.

Phil knew something was wrong instantly.

"Well no wonder you're cranky. There's something people need in this century. It's called sleep. You might like to try it sometime. It stops people getting moody," Pim said, slowly, as if Keely was dumb.

Phil put his hand out. "Pim, shut up."

"But…" Pim started.

"I said, shut up!" Phil shouted, and looked over at Keely, who had begun shaking. "Keels?"

Keely broke down. "Phil. He died. Last night. In hospital. He gave up. He gave up! He just died. At one o'clock in the morning. He was found. Dead. He promised he'd fight, but he didn't. Because I wasn't worth it!"

"Keely…" Phil said. He didn't know what to say now. What would help cure the pain she was in?

"Don't you understand, Phil? He died. He didn't care. He left me. He did all these things, but he forgot about how I would feel. Mom says that if he were alive he'd just be in pain. But what about my pain? What about me?" Keely screamed, causing Lloyd and Barb to come running into the hallway.

Barb looked concerned. "Guys?"

"Sorry mom. Keely, why are you here? Why aren't you at home with your mom? You guys need each other at a time like this," Phil said, running over to Keely, and hugging her.

Keely sniffed loudly. "Tell that to her. She doesn't care. She wants us to get on with our lives, like nothing has happened. But it has happened. My dad is dead! He's dead, and getting on with our lives isn't going to bring him back!"

"I think this is a boyfriend and girlfriend moment," Pim said, excusing herself.

Normally Phil would have yelled after her, but Keely was his priority now. Nothing else mattered.

"Lloyd. Go and see that Pim is okay," Barb instructed her husband.

Lloyd looked confused. "Why?"

"Just, do it," Barb said through gritted teeth. Her husband wasn't known for his tact. "Keely, come over here."

Keely stumbled away from Phil, and into the open arms of his mom. "Mrs Diffy, he died. My dad…"

Phil stood, watching his mother comfort Keely. He wished that he knew what to say. That he could do something to ease the pain his friend was feeling.

"Phil, get Keely a drink," Barb told her son. Phil nodded. A drink he could handle.

He went through to the kitchen and got out a glass, and ran it under the tap. What had happened to cause her dad's death? He had seemed fine yesterday. Well, not fine, but not like he was going to die at any moment. He shrugged. Sometimes these things happen, right?

When he went back into the hallway, he found Keely and his mom sitting on the stairs.

"Mrs Diffy, I have to go to school," Keely whispered, taking the glass of water that Phil held out to her.

Barb shook her head. "Not yet. I'll zap you over with the Wizrd just before your bell goes. You won't be late. Just tell me how you feel Keely."

Phil was impressed. His mother could be a psychologist if they found out that they had to stay in this century.

"I just feel…empty. Like he's died and taken a bit of me with him," Keely tried to explain. "I don't know how I feel. I mean, I'm sad, but I hardly saw him. I didn't want him to die. I mean, he's my dad. But I just feel weird."

Phil listened to Keely talking. He tried to imagine how that would feel. To lose someone close to you. Like if he lost him mom, or his dad. Pim he could probably handle losing.

Barb pulled Keely into a hug, which Keely returned. All night, her mother had cried with her, but she had never hugged her. Barb was the mother that Keely had never really had. Sure, her mom was great at talking to about clothes, and school. But Barb was there for her about other things. Like how she felt.

"Thanks Mrs Diffy," Keely said, finishing the water. "C'mon Phil, we'd better be going to school." She got up and dusted off the plain jeans she had thrown on that morning.

Phil watched as she went to put the glass away. "Mom, what will I say to her at school?"

"Just act normal," Barb said, smiling at her son. "She needs you there for her. She needs you. Not some counsellor type."

Phil nodded. "Okay."

--

"I hate this," Keely sat down at the table with Phil at lunch. "Do they think that I'm going to thank them for giving me an extra helping of this muck?"

Phil sighed. "Keely, they're only showing you that they're there for you."

"Well I don't need them there for me. They haven't been there for me before. Not until my dad dies. And now they want to say sorry? Well bring my dad back. If they're that flipping sorry, then they will," Keely said, shoving her fork into the surprise lunch. "And they way they all say it annoys me. It's like, 'Keely. How are you. Good. I'm so sorry.' Like I'm stupid or something. They can't say things with more than two syllables. Because she's just lost her father, and apparently her brains."

Normally Phil would have laughed, but there was nothing normal about today. "They don't know that it annoys you, do they?"

"Keely," Via came up to their table, speaking to Keely for the first time that day. "I'm really sorry. If there's anything I can do…"

Keely looked up at her. "Can you bring my dad back?"

"No," Via looked embarrassed. "That's the one thing I can't do. But I can give you a hug."

Keely smiled. "A hug would be appreciated."

Phil watched as Via hugged Keely, wishing that he could have done something as simple as that. A hug, which brought a smile to her face. It wasn't exactly rocket science, was it?

"When did you find out?" Via asked, breaking apart from the hug.

Keely jabbed the fork in the lunch again. "One o'clock this morning. I woke up. It was like, I knew, before the phone call. One of those freak coincidences or something."

"I'm really sorry for you Keely. I know that if my dad died, I'd be heartbroken," Via said, sympathetically.

Keely looked up at her. "You feel totally worse than heartbroken."

"Probably. I just don't know how it feels. My dad's still alive. Well, last time I checked. I don't want to feel it, to be honest," Via said, truthfully.

Keely shook her head. "I hope that neither of you guys ever have to feel it. Not until you're way older anyway. Because it hurts."

**Okay, this is probably the last chapter until I get back, unless I type all night, so I hope you enjoy. **


	11. I'm starting to trip, I'm losing my grip

**Chapter 11 - I'm starting to trip, I'm losing my grip**

"Why don't I feel sad, Phil?" Keely asked, lying on Phil's bed, watching him throw the Wizrd up in the air for the hundredth time.

Phil looked over at his best friend. He couldn't tell her the answer. He couldn't feel what she was going through. "Keels…"

"I mean, my dad's just died. I should feel sad right? I should be at home, with my mom, crying. I shouldn't be here. But I want to be here. In fact, I'd rather be here than anywhere else right now. But that doesn't explain why I'm not sad. Most people would be in mourning. Not round at their best friends house, watching him play with a gadget that won't be invented for another hundred years or so," Keely rambled, trying to make sense of the many thoughts her brain was processing all at once.

"Well, if you don't feel sad, then how do you feel?"

Keely propped herself up on her elbow and looked into the eyes of the one person she knew actually cared. "I don't know. I mean, part of me feels like it's the end of the world. But, and I know it sounds horrible, the bigger part of me doesn't care. No, that came out wrong. It cares, but it feels…"

"Feels like it didn't make that much of an impact?" Phil guessed.

"Yeah. I mean, I saw my dad once every year. Spoke to him a couple of times on the phone. But there were never any pictures of him around the house. Never any conversation about him. Not even when grandma came. She would never once mention her son. Which was weird. I know it's really awful and all, but how can you miss someone you didn't actually know that well?" Keely asked, sitting up.

Phil looked into her eyes. "Do you remember the second day that I met you? And you came and sat, and had lunch with me? But them Pim came, and told us that it was time to go home, all the way home?"

Keely nodded, wondering where this was leading.

"Well I missed you. I hated the thought of not being able to see you again," Phil said. "And I hardly knew you."

The bedroom was silent for a few moments, as Keely processed this bit of information. What did it mean? "But that was different. You had already seen me. Christmas? Remember?"

"And I missed you then as well. The point is, you can miss someone you don't know all that well. It's whether or not you choose to spend your whole life missing them, or just think about them, everyday. Thinking is different to missing. And I'm sure your dad would have preferred you thinking about him, as opposed to missing him constantly," Phil explained.

Keely looked up at the ceiling. He was right. He usually was. But it never bugged her. She nodded slowly. "How do you always know the right thing to say?"

"I don't. I make it up as I go along!" Phil admitted, smiling.

Keely laughed. "Well you do a great job for someone who's completely playing it by ear. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"So you'd miss me?" Phil asked.

Keely nodded. "Each and every second of the life I had left."

They both looked at each other, neither one of them wanting to admit what was on their minds. Not yet. But both were hoping the other would.

Keely's cell phone cut through the silence, making them both jump. She flipped it open, and looked at the screen. "It's mom. Just a second."

"Okay," Phil smiled, as Keely answered the phone.

"Hey mom," Keely said, trying not to sound too cheerful.

Mandy Teslow was hysterical. "Keely, can you come home? Now?"

"Um…why?" Keely asked, confused. This wasn't like her mom.

"I have something important to talk to you about," Mandy said, trying to disguise the frantic tone of her voice, but she failed.

Keely tried to think about all of the possibilities. "Um…sure. Okay, I'll ask Phil to bring me home."

"Okay," Mandy sighed. "And Keely?"

Keely nodded. "Yeah?"

"Please take care. Make sure Phil is with you at all times."

Ending the phone call, Keely sat down on Phil's bed again, worried.

"What was all that about?" Phil asked, oblivious to her mother's side of the conversation.

Keely looked at him. "I don't know. But it sounded bad. It sounded really bad. Phil, I've been told that you have to walk me home. Apparently I have to take care."

"Sure I will," Phil said, getting up. "I'll walk back after that."

Keely shook her head frantically. "No. If I've been told to take care, I'm making sure you're getting cared for too. You can stay at mine, and then…"

She trailed off, and looked at her fingers, worried.

"We'll sort it out when we get to your house."

Keely nodded. "Okay. But we need to hurry."

Phil grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair, while Keely picked up her bag. Just as they were going out of the door, Keely grabbed his arm. He looked up at her, half expecting someone to be climbing through the window with a gun.

"Thanks Phil," she smiled weakly.

Phil looked into her frightened eyes. "No problem."

---

The walk home was deliberately made noisy. Why, they had no idea, but if they were silent, they'd become more frightened and worried. That was the intention anyway.

"So, are you going to the car wash thing?" Keely asked Phil, just saying the first thing that popped into her head.

Phil shrugged. "We have to. Attendance is mandatory."

"Well, at least I'll have a chance to get you back, for thing you did to get me back, for the thing I did get you back, for the thing you did to me before," Keely said, carefully counting her 'backs'.

Phil counted the 'backs' as well, and for a few minutes, the walk was silent.

"Yeah, okay," Phil said, finishing the counting.

When they approached the Teslow house, they hesitated.

"Phil, what if someone has come in, and murdered her? She sounded hysteric on the phone," Keely gulped, thinking of the worst possible scenarios.

Phil shook his head trying to convince both Keely, and himself that there was nothing bad inside the house. "I'm sure you're overreacting. Shall we just open the door. I mean, she's probably fine…"

"Probably isn't certain though, is it?" Keely said, but fished her keys out of her bag anyway.

She unlocked the door, and pushed it open, staying behind the doorframe so it was easier to run. No robber, wearing black and holding a knife was there to greet her, so she walked cautiously inside. "Mom?"

"Keely!" Mandy appeared from the living room, and hugged her daughter so tightly, Keely had to lift her head right up in the air to be able to breathe. "Phil! Come in!"

Phil hesitated. "Actually, I might just walk…"

Mandy shook her head fiercely. "No. You can't. If they saw you with Keely they may come after you. And I don't want that to happen."

"Mom, who will come after him?" Keely asked, her voice shaking.

Mandy ignored her though, and ushered Phil inside, and locked the door. "Keely, Phil. Come through to the living room. There's someone here, who will be able to explain it better than me."

Keely looked at her mother's face, and noticed the tear stains, and the puffy eyes. But she saw something in her mothers eyes, that she had never seen before. Pure, and utter fear.

Mandy led them into the living room, and introduced them to a man who was sitting on the couch. "Keely, Phil. This is Dr. Smith. He's someone who discovers the cause of death. He did a post-mortem on your father."

Keely knew what a post-mortem was, and she sat down heavily on the couch. She looked at Phil, but couldn't quite make out if he knew the definition of a post-mortem, or if he was pretending, but he too had begun to look scared. Keely grabbed his hand, and pulled him over next to her, the familiar tingles not being able to overcome the fear that she felt.

"Hello. You must be Keely," Dr. Smith smiled at her.

Keely nodded. She would have said something sarcastic at this point, but she couldn't think of anything to say. It was like her body was frozen.

"What I'm about to tell you may be very upsetting, but I'm afraid I have to do it," Dr. Smith said, looking her in the eye.

She felt like screaming 'well don't tell me then!' but her tounge wouldn't move. The only comfort she had, was Phil's hand in hers, but he looked just as worried. Whether it was worry for her, or worry for him, Keely didn't know, but she knew she was glad he was here.

"We did a post-mortem examination on your father. According to our results, the cancer wouldn't have killed him for another three weeks at least."

Keely found her tongue had loosened. "So, the cancer didn't kill him?"

"No," Dr. Smith said. "We found, that the cause of death was not the cancerous cells he had in his body."

Phil looked confused. "So how did Mr. Teslow die?"

"We found, that the cause of death was, in fact, suffocation."

**I'm really sorry, but I'm seriously thinking about throwing this story away, because this chapter has taken me like, ages to even come up with the idea for it. So unless I get some reviews, and ideas, I may just scrap this story and begin the sequel to Unbelievable. **

**So give me some reviews and ideas if you want me to keep going. I need inspiration people!**


	12. Theres no light at the end of the tunnel

**Chapter** **12 - There's no light at the end of the tunnel tonight**

The whole room was silent. The doctor's last words were echoing in both Keely and Phil's ears, seeming to sound slower each time they heard it in their heads.

The cause of death was suffocation…

_The cause of death was suffocation…_

**The cause of death was suffocation…**

_**The cause of death was suffocation…**_

Keely shook her head. "Come again?"

She wanted the doctor to say something different. That her father had fought as hard as he could. That he had lost, but unwillingly. She didn't want to believe the words that came out of his mouth.

"Your father. He wasn't killed by the cancer. He passed away due to suffocation," the doctor said, more slowly, as if he thought Keely were stupid.

"Don't speak to me slowly, I'm not brain dead," Keely snapped, still trying to process the information.

Mandy gasped. "I'm sorry. She -"

"I understand. It's normal for someone to be like this after they lose a close relation," Dr. Smith smiled at Keely sympathetically.

Keely rolled her eyes. "You can shut up. You don't know me. You didn't know my father. Don't you give me all that rubbish about me being distressed. You've just told me that my dad died in suspicious circumstances. This has nothing to do with the fact that he's dead - it's more to do with the fact that you're trying to make me believe that he was killed!"

Phil grabbed her arm to silence her, and she stopped, breathing heavily, the words just soaking in. "Does that mean that he was killed? I mean, couldn't he have just…died?"

"It's more unlikely that he just died. Chances are, someone tried to kill him, and they succeeded. We don't know the murder weapon yet. Could have been a pillow, could have been something that the murderer brought," Dr. Smith said, sounding almost relieved that someone had calmed Keely down.

Keely took a deep breath. "It was definitely murder then?"

"Well, we can't rule the 'he just died' theory out, but it's more likely he was killed. Deliberately," Dr. Smith turned back to Keely, now that she was calm.

Mandy began to sob again.

"The police should be here any minute. Before they get here, do you have any questions you need to ask me?" the doctor said, half-hoping there were none. There was never none in cases like this though.

Keely sniffed. "Would he have suffered?"

"It's hard to say…"

"Would he have suffered?" Keely yelled, slamming her fist on the coffee table in front of her.

Dr. Smith frowned. "Depending on what the murder weapon was, the amount of suffering would vary…"

"Just tell me if he would have suffered," Keely whispered, but if anything, the whisper seemed to be more menacing than the yell.

"It's likely that he would have suffered, yes," the doctor resigned trying to comfort them. Keely obviously didn't want the easy way, she wanted the truth.

Keely sighed, and tears began to well in her eyes. "Phil…"

She didn't need to say anything. Phil held out his arms, and let her fall into them, sobbing. Not some counsellor type. He was there for her, as himself. The person she really needed.

---

The police were there for the best part of the night.

Phil had called his mom and dad to fill them in, and to request permission to stay with Keely. They had no choice really. If there was some psycho murderer out there, Phil walking home alone was out of the question.

Keely and Mandy were the first suspects, and the questioning took longer than they had expected.

"Keely, how well did you know your father?" The woman, apparently called D.I Raleigh, asked Keely.

Keely shook her head. "Not real well. Not as well as some kids know their fathers. It wasn't like Phil and his dad. I saw my dad about once every year. Maybe even less. Talked to him on the phone a bit. But we never really talked about him. It was more about how I was doing, and what I wanted. If you want details about my father's life I can't give them to you. He was almost a complete stranger."

"Apparently you were upset about your father's death. So why would you be upset about a complete stranger?" The policeman said.

Keely looked over at Phil. "It's like something Phil said to me today. You can miss someone you don't know all that well. It's whether or not you choose to spend your whole life missing them, or just think about them, everyday. I was upset. Just like I'd be upset if someone on TV died. I get upset all the time when I hear of these bodies being found. But I didn't know them, did I? At the end of the day, he was my dad. And complete stranger, or best friend, I'm entitled to cry about him dying, aren't I?"

Mandy had begun to cry, listening to what her daughter had to say. It was so deep, so meaningful.

"Okay. Do you know anyone who would want to kill David?" The policewoman asked.

Keely shook her head. "I mean, I hardly knew him, but I couldn't think of why anyone would kill him. He seemed normal on the phone."

"Normal?" the policeman questioned.

Keely sighed. "Normal as in, he talked to me, about me. He sympathised with me when I told him my deepest secrets, and laughed with me with stupid things that I'd done at school. Normal. Like that."

"What secrets did you share?" the policewoman asked.

Keely flushed bright red. Usually she would have been glad to just say anything that could help. But…

"Honey, don't worry if you don't want to say anything," Mandy said, sympathetically.

Keely shrugged. "I would. I'd tell you any day, but I'm not sure I want to with all these people around." She avoided eye contact with Phil as she said this.

The policewoman seemed to understand this, and so she began to talk to Mandy. "Do you know of anyone who would have wanted to kill your ex-husband?"

Mandy shook her head, but a bit too quickly, and a bit too vigorously.

"Are you sure?" the policeman asked. "If you know anything, we'll have to be told. Otherwise you and your daughter could be in immense danger."

Mandy whimpered, and Keely turned to look at her. "Mom, if you know anything, please tell them."

"I can't."

The room fell deathly silent.

"Why can't you Mrs. Teslow?"

Mandy looked up at the ceiling, her eyes filling with tears. "I promised David I wouldn't tell Keely about it. It was one of the last things I told him. I'll tell you. In private. Please…"

The officers looked at each other, but nodded, and motioned for Keely and Phil to leave the room. Just before she left, she flashed her mother a hurt look.

"I thought we could tell each other anything, mom. I guess not."

**Could have been a moment of my insanity (and I have a lot of those), but I've reconsidered. I promise to, tell you exactly what happened to Keely's dad, revert back to how Via and Owen are getting along, and bring Phil and Keely together. I'm not making any promises about how long that will take, but I will _try _(and as my mum always says - you can only try your best) to update frequently. **

**But anyway, review! Or else I'll take back my promises!**


	13. Celebrate the beauty of the naked truth

**Chapter 13 - celebrating the beauty of the naked truth**

Keely stood outside the door, pacing up and down. "Phil, why won't she tell me?"

"Well it sounds like she promised your dad. Maybe she doesn't want to disrespect their promise," Phil said, leaning against the wall.

Keely shook her head. "That's rubbish, and you know it. My mom hadn't spoken to my dad in 13 years. Why would she make a promise to him now?"

Phil sighed. "Who said it was made now? She could have promised him, 3 years ago, but they were just renewing their promises. She's only trying to protect you."

"Well if she was trying to protect me, she'd give me some clue, as to who exactly might be trying to kill me!" Keely almost yelled, but remembering where they were, she swung her voice to a low whisper just in time.

"Well, there's one way to find out what they're saying in there. I'm not sure if it's right, but you can be the judge of that," Phil shrugged, pulling out the Wizrd.

Keely smiled, and grabbed it, and pressed a red button in the middle of it. A hole in the wall appeared, and both Keely and Phil could hear what was going on. The occupants of the room however, had no idea.

"In your own time Mrs. Teslow," the policeman was encouraging her.

Keely stood and watched, suddenly not so sure she wanted to do this.

"Okay. David was…a drug addict. He always used to come in, really out of it, and sometimes he'd hit me. Hurt me. Never that much, because he hardly had any strength. He left no marks or anything, and it didn't really ache. But he still did it," Mandy gabbled.

Keely gasped. "He hit mom?"

Phil wanted to stop this. He wanted to turn back time, and never give Keely the option to look at this. He could tell from the first sentence, that it was going to hurt her. "Keely, give me the Wizrd."

She ignored him, and carried on listening.

"He used to spend most of his time out, probably at clubs where you could get your hands on drugs. I begged him to stop taking them, and usually he promised he would. Until he went out again. Then things started getting hard. He lost his job, and suddenly all the money to pay for the drugs was gone. I was pregnant by now, with Keely and Rebecca."

Keely's eyes widened. "Rebecca? Who the heck is Rebecca?"

"Keels, please give me the Wizrd. I can't let you listen to anymore of this."

Keely turned round to Phil. "Phil, I'm trying to find out the truth. The truth that my mother won't tell me. How else am I going to find this out?"

"You won't. But maybe that's for the best," Phil said, trying to prise the Wizrd from her grip.

"Best for who? My mom? You? Because it sure as heck isn't best for me," Keely argued, and snatched her hand out of his, and focussed on the scene in the living room once more.

"Rebecca?" the policewoman asked.

Mandy nodded, her eyes full of tears. "Keely actually had a twin. One day, David came in, and he hit me. Hard. I fell, and I paid the price with one of my babies. Thank goodness Keely was okay. I left him for a few days then. But something kept pulling me back. I don't know why I kept returning. I was young, and stupid."

"Why didn't she tell me?" Keel whispered, and Phil was clever enough to know that she didn't want an answer.

"Anyway. Keely was born, and for a few months it looked like he really was giving up. Anyway, she was about 15 months old and he went out, and he was really late returning. I was really worried, and rung everyone I knew, trying to figure out where he was. Eventually he came back, beaten up and looking really out of it. Apparently, the police officer who brought him back told me, he had been fighting with another person at the club. He didn't mention any drugs, so I pushed it to the back of my mind; thought that maybe it wasn't drugs, maybe he was just drunk," Mandy sniffed.

The hallway outside was silent, Keely in shock and Phil wishing he hadn't let her look.

"Keely was two years old. She was so cute, and I guess I thought she was the answer to all of our problems. She was the answer to mine anyway. I told myself, if David got drunk, or high on drugs again, I'd take Keely away. I wanted her to have the best life possible. And then he came back. Out of it. Both drunk and full up on drugs I think. And that was it. I told him I was leaving, but he didn't try to stop me. I think he understood why. We moved here, to Pickford. But now he had no money coming in. He didn't have my money, and he wasn't making any money. One day, he rung me up, telling me that he was in debt, but I couldn't help him. I hardly had any money, and I had two mouths to feed. That was the last time I spoke to David. Up until the other day. I know he went into rehab, got himself clean. His mom told me. And that's when I decided to let him see Keely. Because he was her father, and I knew, that if he was over the drugs, he'd be able to see what he had caused. A life without his amazing daughter," Mandy finished. "I don't know who killed him, but I just thought that might help…"

The police officers nodded, and the policeman got up and began walking toward the door.

"Keely! Turn it off!" Phil hissed, as they watched the policeman getting closer.

Keely was frozen in shock though. Her dad had been a drug addict. He had killed her twin sister. He had hit her mother. He had got himself in debt.

"Keely!" Phil lunged at the Wizrd, and managed to hit the red button, just as the policeman opened the door, and beckoned them back in.

Keely walked in, in silence. She looked at her mother, who was crying. At the police officers who looked grim. At Phil who was looking at her. And she cracked.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she screamed at Mandy.

The police officers looked confused. "Keely, what are you talking about?"

"I heard every second of that conversation. Every single second. And I want to know why you kept it from me!" Keely yelled.

Mandy was sobbing uncontrollably now. "I just wanted to protect you. I wanted you to love your father, and telling you that would have turned you against him."

"Why couldn't you have left the decision up to me? Why did you have to be so self-obsessed, and only think of you? What about me? Don't you think I deserved to know that I had a twin sister? Don't you think I deserved to know that my dad was a drug addict? Don't you think I deserved to know all that?"

Mandy tried to wipe the thousands of tears that were running down her cheeks. "I thought you deserved to know, but I couldn't spoil your life. You had great friends, and you thought you had a perfect mom and dad. What was wrong with you having that? I promised myself, and your dad that I would never tell you, because I wanted you to love your father."

"Mom, I wouldn't care if dad was in the Mafia, or a hit-man. He would still be my dad, and I'd still love him. More than anything," Keely explained, the tears getting the better of her as well.

Mandy nodded. "I realise that. But I just thought…"

"Can you do me a favour mom?" Keely asked.

Mandy nodded. "Anything."

"Can you stop thinking about things, and do what feels right?"

---

The police officers left at about midnight. "We'd strongly advise that you don't leave the house tomorrow. If the murderer was the person in charge of David's debt, he might decide that he hasn't got it all back yet. He may decide that he needs to kill one of you to repay him. Maybe even all of you."

"Great way to reassure us it'll all be alright," Keely croaked, sarcastically.

"If you remember anything else, please do not hesitate to call us," the police woman mentioned before leaving. "Oh, and there will be a patrol car outside. They're making sure no one sneaks in at night."

"That's going to help me sleep. Two middle-aged guys drinking coffee and eating doughnuts watching over us. You sure you don't want me to leave the house key under the doormat?"

Phil bit his lip. As unfunny as this situation was, Keely's sarcasm was going to make him laugh.

"Good luck," the policeman said, and then they left the house.

Keely wrinkled her nose. "Good luck. As if I'm going to be playing a football game or something. Good luck to you too!"

"Guys, do you want to watch some TV? I think we can safely say that none of us are sleeping tonight," Mandy said, and pulled some blankets out of the airing cupboard.

Keely took them and sighed. "Mom, tell me the truth. Did you still love dad? Even after all he did to you?"

Mandy was silent for a minute, and then turned to Keely and looked her in the eye. "Yes. I did. Because, like you, I didn't care if he was in the Mafia or a hit-man. He was still my husband."

"So why did you leave him?"

Mandy was silent again. "Because when you love someone, you have their best interests in mind. I had two people's best interests in mind. David's. If he had hurt you in any way, he would have been guilt-ridden forever. So taking you away, meant that he could see what he'd lost. And yours. If he had hurt you, then I wouldn't have been able to live with myself. It was in your best interest to take you away."

"Mom?" Keely asked.

Mandy turned back to her and smiled. "Yes?"

"Thanks for the truth."

---

The TV was still on. The end credits of Titanic faded, and the light went out. Mandy sniffled once more.

Titanic was her favourite movie, and the events of this past week, made her need to cry.

She turned of the TV, and walked over to the window of the living room. The patrol car was outside, as promised. The street lamps were on, and the whole street was silent. There was nothing suspicious around. Mandy felt strangely calm.

Maybe it was the weight of the truth being lifted off her shoulders.

She turned back to where her daughter and Phil had been, and smiled. Keely had her head on Phil's shoulder, and his head, was rested on her head.

"Night you guys," she whispered, as she threw a blanket around them.

Keely smiled, but whether it was in response to her mom, or in her dream it wasn't clear.

Mandy spent a few more minutes looking at Phil and Keely, wishing she could go back to that age. Her and David, best friends, but also childhood sweethearts. She smiled at the fact that history was repeating itself. Although she was pretty sure that Phil would treat her daughter better than David had treated her. Phil wasn't the type of person to become a drug-addict. She didn't know how she knew, it just didn't seem the type of thing he would do.

She tilted her head, and smiled. Keely always came back with more stories to tell, and it became more painstakingly obvious each day that they both loved each other. And it was only a matter of time. Because if an incident like this couldn't bring them together, she didn't know what would.

It was only a matter of time…

**Thank you alotlikelove for your Mafia idea. I did put the word Mafia in the story…;-D**

**I gave you a little bit of Pheely. Not much however, but I gave you as much as this chapter could take. Because if it had Pheely, and drama in it, I think the world might implode. **

**Not as big on the cliff-hanger here. But there will be one in the next chapter. A colossal one! So watch out for that!**

**So now you know David's secret. But not who killed him. Hmm…****I would say I take guesses, but I don't think you'd get it…because they're not actually in the show, so…**

**Must be the longest chapter I've ever written. Over 2000 words. Go me!**

**Not much else to say, except: REVIEW! NOW!**

**Thank you.**


	14. Close your eyes and hope its imagination

**Chapter 14 - You close your eyes and hope that this is just imagination**

_"I'm the one who killed your father!" A voice said from the shadows. _

_Keely __gulped. She looked around. Mandy was lying on the ground, Phil lying with her. Keely was the only one left. "What do you want to do with me?"_

"_What do you mean, what do I want to do with you?" the voice laughed. "You must be pretty stupid, not to be able to figure it out. Then again, your father wasn't the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree either. And you mother…well she was just plain thick."_

_Keely shook her head, backing away from the faceless figure. "No. Don't say that about my mom. She wasn't thick. And neither was my dad."_

"_He didn't know when to stop. He had no idea when to give up. He had killed one of his unborn children. He had hit his wife over, and over. He had destroyed his career and he still kept on taking the drugs. And getting more and more in debt. Which is why he had to pay with his life. Because I don't mess around Keely. I will not be played," the man advanced. _

_Keely panicked. "How the heck do you know my name?"_

"_I know everything about you. You have a best friend called Phil Diffy. Or, you did have a best friend called Phil Diffy. You loved him, but weren't sure if he loved you back. Your other best friend, Tia moved town. Then you met Via. And Owen. I know more about you than you know about yourself. Scared yet?" _

_Keely tried to shake her head, but her expression gave her fear away. _

_The intruder laughed. A laugh that is usually associated with those villains on Disney animated movies. But this wasn't a movie. And good didn't triumph over evil in this scenario. _

_Keely reached the wall behind her, and whimpered. There was nowhere else to run. She had been backing away from the door, and not towards it. _

"_I'm so sorry Keely. It's really nothing personal…" _

_The knife was raised, glinting silver…_

_And then…_

"No!" Keely screamed, and opened her eyes.

No knife-welding maniac. It was as dark as her dream had been, but she was sitting on the couch. Next to Phil. Who was breathing. And her mom was breathing too.

Keely took deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves. The dream had been so vivid, so real…

She lay for a few more minutes, trying desperately to sleep. But the dream was too raw in her mind.

The person who killed her father had known everything about her. What if he actually did? What if he had been stalking her from Day 1, and now he was going to kill her?

She shook her head, trying to rid the nasty thoughts from it.

I had just been a dream, and dreams never came true. Well not bad dreams anyway. They weren't meant to come true.

She decided it was hopeless to try to fall back asleep, so she got up, and padded into the kitchen for a glass of water.

The light over the counter was on.

She squinted. She was sure her mother had turned it off.

"_Let's turn this off before we go and watch the movie. Don't want to attract any attention to ourselves, do we?"_

Keely shook her head. She must have been mistaken. Getting a glass and filling it with water, she turned the light off and walked back into the living room.

She walked over to the window, and snuck a glance out of it. The police patrol car wasn't there.

"_Oh, and there will be a patrol car outside. They're making sure no one sneaks in at night."_

Her heart thudded. Why wasn't the police car there? Surely it was supposed to stay _all _night, and not just when the occupants of the house had fallen asleep.

Maybe not. Maybe they had more important things to do than babysit her mom, Phil and her.

She didn't want to wake the other two, so she put on the TV but turned the volume right down. There was only a buzzing sound coming from the set however. No picture was being transmitted.

But Titanic had worked, only an hour ago…hadn't it?

"_Let's watch Titanic!"_

"_Great, I love that movie!"_

Keely frowned. She distinctly remembered watching at least, the start of Titanic.

So why didn't the TV work now?

Something caught her eye, in the corner, and she tried to work out what it was.

The wire had been cut.

The wire, connecting the TV to the electrical mains had been cut. And it could only be cut, if someone was standing in that very room.

Keely began to panic once more. This wasn't a dream. This was real. Scarily real.

She looked around the room, but nobody was there. Nobody that shouldn't have been there anyway…

"I'm imagining things. It's all in my head. Nobody cut the wire. Nobody turned on the light. It's all a figment of my overactive imagination. Everybody's saying I have one. Just take deep breaths," Keely tried to calm herself down. "It's all okay…it's all okay…it's all…"

But she didn't manage to get the rest of the words out. In their place, was an ear-splitting scream.

**Must be the shortest chapter yet, but I had to end it there. Why? Simply because I'm in an evil mood. Ha ha ha!**

**I was getting scared as I was writing it, but that's probably just because I get scared easily. You probably think I'm crazy now, but I assure you, I'm not. I don't think…**

**The faster you review, the faster I will put you out of your misery…**


	15. Life in slow motion

**Chapter 15 - Life in slow motion**

Phil heard a scream.

Mandy heard a scream.

It took about two minutes for them both to figure out that the scream wasn't part of their dreams.

"Keely!" Phil yelled, as he sat bolt upright.

Mandy was frozen staring at the glinting kitchen knife in the gloved hand.

Keely kept screaming.

"I expected the boyfriend to protect the girl, but you don't seem to be doing that. Do you Phil?"

Phil stopped. "How do you know me? My name?"

The man laughed. At least they presumed it was a man. The mask that covered the whole of their face didn't give away whether it was a woman or a man.

"My dream…" Keely whispered. "My dream…"

Phil ran over to Keely and grabbed her arm. "Keely, don't worry. It'll all be okay."

"On the contrary, it won't be. Your father…Keely? Your father owes me some money. Except, well, he won't exactly be able to give me it now, will he?"

Keely couldn't think. Her mind was blank. All she could think of, was her dream. Phil and her mom lying lifeless on the floor, and the knife about to stab her.

"So I'm afraid there's some debt to be repaid," the man said, advancing.

Mandy whimpered.

"Shut up!"

Phil tried to think of what to do. Why couldn't he think of a way to save them? He had to save them.

"You see, Keely, your father bought drugs from me. Lots and lots of drugs. But instead of paying me for them, he told me that he'd send me the money. I waited years for that money. But it never came. And then when I saw you… I was waiting outside H.G Wells school one day. Best place to sell drugs really, schools. And I saw you and your boyfriend here, walking out, laughing and joking. You were the spitting image of your father. And I knew that I had found him. I traced your calls, followed you. Hospital? Yep, I was there. That's how I killed him. With a pillow. Told him the score. Well, actually, I told him that if he died, I wouldn't come after his family. But he won't know, will he? He's dead. I couldn't let him get away with it."

Keely looked at Phil, begging him to do something. But he didn't know what to do.

"Did you get scared Keely? You saw the light on. I watched you turn it off. Did it scare you? And then you looked out of the window. And you saw nothing. The police car isn't there. It pays, to have friends in the police force. They volunteered, and then scampered off when I needed in. And the TV didn't work did it? I cut the wire. You looked really cute when you were sleeping. You lying with your boyfriend here."

"He's not my boyfriend," Keely croaked, finding her voice at last. She had to buy time. Time was all she needed. The sun was rising, and the police had said they'd be back in the early morning.

"Right. Well, I don't care, because he's going to be killed first. I want to see you suffer," the man laughed. Keely was pretty sure it was a man now.

"Why? It wasn't me that bought the drugs. I didn't even know about it all until today. Why do you want me to suffer?" Keely asked, trying not to let on how she'd feel if Phil really was killed.

The man moved a step forward, and Keely moved a step back. "Because, Keely, it's in your blood. That robber is in your blood, and I want to eliminate all of his blood. His pathetic excuse of a wife can stay alive. You however, can't."

"So why kill Phil?" Keely asked, her voice cracking. She was scared. But she didn't dare let on that she was.

The man shrugged. "Don't know. Just feel like it."

"Please don't kill him," Keely reduced herself to begging.

The man smiled, as if he knew that she would eventually beg. "But if he's not your boyfriend, why would you care?"

"Because he's my best friend," Keely said, feeling her eyes prick.

"Aaw…is that all? Am I supposed to take one look at your crying face, and then do whatever you say?"

Keely sniffed. "Kill me then. Just please don't kill Phil. Please…"

"Why not though? You haven't given me a reasonable excuse yet," the man tutted. Keely knew that he was playing around with her. He was trying to get her to beg, and then he'd kill her. But she needed time.

"Because…" Keely tried to think of something to say. And then she realised. If she was going to die, she wanted Phil to know how she actually felt.

Phil looked over at Keely, and almost burst into tears. She knew that this was nearing the end. And the murderer was standing in his way. He couldn't reach out and save her.

Their eyes locked, and in that second, the world around them was in slow motion. They knew what each other was thinking. They knew how each other felt.

"Because I love him. And I never told him, and now that you're planning on killing me, I wish I had before. Amazing how the end of your life makes you confess things that you wouldn't have otherwise. Phil, I love you!" Keely yelled, trying to show Phil that she refused to be afraid. But there was something in her voice that gave her away. He had to help her. But how?

Something on the couch where they had been sleeping, only ten minutes ago caught his eye. It shone in the bit of sunlight that was leaking in through the windows. Phil felt like laughing. Why hadn't he thought of it before? "I love you too Keels!"

"That's so sweet. It's like a movie. They confess their love for each other just before she dies!"

Phil edged over to the couch, and Keely wrinkled her nose. What was he doing? Going for another sleep while she got cut into bite sized chunks?

He knew that he was risking a lot, but he'd rather Mandy knew, than have Keely killed right in front of him. Picking it up slowly, he hid it behind his back. He had to wait until the exact moment.

Keely saw what Phil had picked up, and she felt like jumping for joy.

"Well, Miss Teslow. Any last words?"

Keely looked at Phil, and then at her mother, who was crying on the couch. "Yeah. Actually, I do have some last words. I think you're sick. You go around killing totally innocent people, because you don't get what you want. I hope you rot in jail. Because that's where you're going. You can't run forever."

"Actually, I can. And I have been for ten years. And I have never been caught…" the man started.

Phil knew that this was time. But he had a matter of seconds. If this went wrong…

Keely watched, as he swung the knife over his head. This was it. If Phil didn't save her now, then she'd be gone.

Mandy let out a scream as she watched the knife swing over his head. "Keely!"

The scream echoed around the room.

A blue beam erupted from the Wizrd, and hit the man square in the back.

He wavered, for a few seconds, and then crashed to the floor; the knife creating a long scratch down Keely's arm, but nothing more.

The scream faded out.

Keely's sobs as she clutched her arm were the only sound, as the three of them stood frozen.

"Is he dead?" Keely whispered.

Phil shook his head. "No. But he should be out for about three hours."

"Phil!" she sobbed, and ran into his arms. It was just beginning to sink in. She had just escaped death. By about three seconds. "Thank you so much. You saved my life. Literally."

Mandy ran up to them, and hugged Keely, crying hysterically. "My baby. He was going to kill you. My baby…"

The nightmare was over.

**Okay, this still isn't a finished story. Not really anyway. Wow, that totally flowed out. I mean, in my head I had planned it, but this is like, totally different to how I planned. **

**I do have the first draft, so if any of you want to read what it would have been like if the ramblings in my head had made it, then say so in your review. I'll send you it, easily. **


	16. It's so dark, don't know where you're at

**Chapter 16 - Sometimes it's so dark and you don't know where you're at**

Keely lay in the hospital bed, and stared up at the ceiling. It had only been hours before that she had been threatened with death, and then had her arm cut in half.

The police had turned up as soon as they were called. They kept apologising, over and over again, about leaving two idiots to protect them. Or help them get killed. Whichever way you looked at it.

The man, apparently nicknamed 'Sting' had been taken away, just as he was coming round. He had vowed to get his money's worth, but the police said he was facing life. Keely was glad. He had killed her father, and hurt her. He deserved to rot in jail.

She had been taken to hospital, even though she insisted that she was fine. It hurt, obviously, but she didn't want to go to hospital. Part of her felt like curling up and crying herself to sleep. But it was Phil that convinced her to go.

Nothing had been said about their 'declarations', but both kept thinking about it. Wondering whether each other meant it, or if they had just said it to make the other feel better.

Mandy Teslow had gone with the police to make a statement, and Phil had gone with her. Keely would be asked for one when she got better.

Better.

What was better? When her arm had healed? Or when her head had stopped buzzing with thoughts about what could have happened? She could have been stabbed in the heart. If she hadn't crawled those precious few inches away, the knife would have hit her in the heart. And she wouldn't be here now.

She sighed. Why was life always so difficult to those who wanted it to be easy?

Mandy hadn't questioned Phil about the Wizrd yet, but she was sure it was going to happen.

The police wondered how the three of them had managed to knock a man like Sting unconscious, but Keely had just made something up, like a vase was thrown at him.

Phil hadn't said anything to her since he had made sure she was okay. That's when she had come to the conclusion that he was probably just humouring her when he told her that he loved her.

Her mind took her back to only four days ago, when she had longed for her life to change. Be careful what you wish for. The saying had never really applied to her before now. She had never dreamed that her life could change so drastically. Four days ago, she was bored, but she could have lived. Now she was broken, and hurting and sad. But she didn't know why.

She was still alive. Her dad, who would have died anyway, was dead. She had put her dad's killer in jail. Surely, if anything she should be feeling proud, not hollow.

"Proud not hollow…" Keely muttered.

"Hey, good line for a song," a voice came from the doorway of the ward she was in.

She smiled. "Hey Phil. Thank God you're here, because I was so bored!"

"Well, I can't stick around too long. I have to go to school to tell them that neither of us will be in today. The police offered to take care of it, but I insisted. They've got enough on their plates," Phil said, taking a seat on the hard plastic chairs they set out for visitors.

Keely rolled her eyes. "Be sure to tell Mr. Hackett I'm crying because I'm missing algebra."

"Will do," Phil smirked. "Whether or not he'll believe it, is a completely different story."

Keely smiled.

"So, how are you Keels?"

She shrugged. "You mean apart from tired, hurting and afraid that psycho is going to come and finish the job at any minute?"

"I guess that was obvious," Phil sighed.

Keely nodded.

"So, as I proceed to try to get you back to normal, I'm going to ask. Heard from Via?" Phil said, aware that if the answer was yes, he would have to sit and listen to 'girl talk' for the next ten minutes.

"No. She probably hasn't heard yet. Unless you rung her," Keely said, wondering how Via would react when she found out.

Phil shook his head. "There was no time to."

"Well, if you see her at school, tell her I'm fine. They say I should be out of here in about two hours. Apparently they want to see if I have concussion. I told them I didn't bang my head, but they seem adamant. But whatever," Keely shrugged.

Phil stood up, but hesitated for a second, wondering if he should bring it up. Deciding against it, he smiled. "See you later then Keely. I'll come by your house in two hours, yeah?"

Keely nodded. "Cool. You should probably tell your Mom and Dad that you're alright too."

"Probably," Phil agreed, and then left the room.

Keely stared at the door he had just walked out of for about two minutes. Then her eyes turned back to the ceiling.

It was going to be a long two hours.

---

Phil walked back into H.G. Wells school just before the bell rung. He stopped by his locker, and took out a few items, and then turned to go to Mr. Hackett's office.

"Phil!" He heard Via call, and he stopped.

Via caught up, with Owen not far behind. "Where's Keely? I stopped by her house, but it was swarming with police. She's okay, right?"

"Yeah. She's fine," Phil said, walking slowly.

Owen sniffed the air. "Yo, Phil? Aren't they yesterday's clothes?"

"Yes, but seeing as we've been fighting a man with a sharp kitchen knife in his hand, who wanted to kill off me, and then Keely, I think I should be let off," Phil said, and then excused himself. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and tell Mr. Hackett about Keely's injury, and how neither of us will be attending school today."

Via's jaw had dropped. "Phil? You can't just tell us all that and then walk away!"

But Phil had already opened the door to Mr. Hackett's room.

"Ah, Mr. Diffy. And what can I do for you?" Mr. Hackett raised his eyebrow, and stared at Phil.

Phil slid the signed note from the police officers over the table. "I have to give you this. Me and Keely are officially excused from today's lessons."

Mr. Hackett read the note, and frowned. "What exactly happened?"

"Mr. Hackett, you don't want to know," Phil said, smiled, and then walked back out into the hallway.

Deciding he had to pick some things up from the Broadcast Lab, he ran over, and opened the door, forgetting that the morning news was scheduled to start.

"Phil!" The AV club captain hissed. "Where's Keely?"

Phil shook his head. "She's away today."

"Read the news for her!" The captain said, and pushed Phil into the path of the camera.

Phil looked confused, but then sat down. "Hi. I'm Phil Diffy, and Keely's away today. She's in hospital. Um…there was an incident at her house last night. But she's fine. And actually, I only came by to pick some things up, so if you'll excuse me…"

He got up, but the AV captain shook his head. Phil rolled his eyes, and sat back down again. "Okay, whatever. Car wash is on Friday, which is in two days. Movie night which is next week is a chick-flick thing. And lunch is something disgusting. That's me, done."

He got up again, and pressed stop on the camera. "Great news people! Now we can all go!"

The room cleared, and he picked up the stuff he needed.

Just as he was walking out the door, he noticed a piece of paper on the ground.

"I hate people who just chuck their things on the ground," Phil groaned, and leant down to pick it up. He looked at it, and smiled, widely. She hadn't just made it up. She had meant it.

He stuffed the paper in his pocket, and left the lab, still grinning.

**I was surprised at how many of you wanted a first draft. For those of you that have it, I did not intend to kill Keely off. She would have been seriously injured, yes, but I'm not that evil. **

**I wonder if I've forgotten any loose ends…there's still like, four more chapters left (I just need to write them), but I think most of the ends should be tied up round about now. Via and Owen, I am coming to. The piece of paper, check. The killer, check. Getting Phil and Keely together, almost check. **

**Okay. I think I'm okay. Cool. Well then, next chapter up soon! **


	17. Ready? Let's roll onto something new

**Chapter 17 - Ready? Let's roll onto something new**

"Are you feeling dizzy?" The nurse asked Keely, bustling around her, opening the curtains and rearranging the fake flowers that were in a vase next to her.

"No," Keely said bluntly.

"Nauseous?" She asked, smiling down at Keely.

Keely looked up at her, and begged her silently to stop looking down on her like she was an idiot. "No. I'm fine."

"Any dizziness?" The nurse asked again, obviously forgetting that she had asked that already.

Keely rolled her eyes. "Not since the last time you asked me. But with all these questions, I might become dizzy."

"I understand you've been through a traumatic experience."

Keely scoffed. "Understatement…"

"But if you need anything at all, do not hesitate to ask me," the nurse smiled sweetly.

"When am I going home?" Keely asked suddenly interested.

The nurse thought for a minute. "Well, it was a pretty deep cut. You'll have a scar. But you should be home in about an hour."

"An hour?" Keely moaned. "But it is so boring in here!"

The nurse smiled sympathetically at her. "Well, I guess I could let you go home earlier. As long as the doctor permits it."

Keely forced a smile back, and tried to look appreciative. Trying to look grateful would probably encourage the hospital to let her go home. Sure, the house held memories of last night, but she just wanted to be out of here.

"Let me just see," The nurse smiled, and then left the room.

Keely rolled her eyes. Ten more minutes wouldn't hurt. As long as she got out in less than an hour…

---

"Honey, I don't think you'll be allowed to come home yet," Mandy said to her daughter. "The police are still swarming around, trying to figure out how he got in. Are you sure you can't stay there?"

Keely groaned. "But I hate it her Mom. How about I ask Phil?"

"Ask Phil what?" Mandy said. "Please don't touch that!"

Keely wrinkled her nose and stared at the receiver. "Mom, I'm not touching anything."

"Sorry honey," Mandy said. "I was talking to the policewoman. She was trying to move Nana's ashes."

Keely half wished that she would move the huge vase that held her Nana's ashes. It was disturbing to see the huge ornament just sitting there containing the remains of her Nana.

"Ask Phil if I can stay there for a while."

"Sounds great!" Mandy smiled. Maybe when she next saw her daughter the inevitable would have become reality.

Keely smiled. "Thanks Mom. I'll see you later?"

"Yeah," Mandy said.

They said their goodbyes and hung up.

Keely inserted her quarter and then dialled the Diffy household and twisted the cord on the pay phone she was using.

"Hello?" Mrs. Diffy's cheerful voice answered. Now she knew that her son was okay, and aside from a cut so was everyone else, she was back to her old self.

"Hey Mrs. Diffy," Keely said, putting on her grown-up voice. She didn't know why, but whenever she was around grownups she spoke in a different tone of voice. Phil had named it her grown-up voice.

Mrs. Diffy's voice flooded with concern. "Keely, honey. Is everything alright?"

"Yes. In fact, that's why I'm ringing. Mom says that my house is still swarming with police, and she…I wanted to know if I could stay with you for a while," Keely said.

The relief in Mrs. Diffy's voice showed. "Oh. Okay. That's absolutely fine Keely. Tell your Mom she's welcome to stay too."

"Okay. I'll be there in a few minutes!" Keely said, and hung up. She began to walk immediately, but she couldn't help turning round and checking that nobody was following behind her.

She reached the Diffy house in a matter of minutes, and when she knocked on the door, it was instantly wrenched open by Barb.

"Keely!" She exclaimed, hugging her. "You're okay?"

Keely smiled at Barb's worry. She knew that everyone in this house, excluding Pim cared for her as much as her Mom cared for her. A lot. "I'm about the same as I was on the phone Mrs. Diffy."

"Good. Good. Phil should be home soon. He only went into school to get a few things. I called him and told him to meet you here. He had his cell phone. I'm rambling now, aren't I?"

Keely nodded, but laughed.

They talked for a few minutes, trying to stay away from the inevitable conversation; but seeing as it was inevitable they strayed to it pretty soon.

Surprisingly, it didn't hurt for Keely to talk about it. In fact, it made it better. And Mrs. Diffy was extremely understanding.

"Hey Mom, do you know where…oh," Pim began to come downstairs, but seeing Keely she trailed off. "Never mind…" She began to ascend up the stairs again.

Keely got up. "Wait, Pim. It's okay!"

"Are you sure?" Pim said, uncomfortable - probably for the first time in her life.

Keely nodded, and Barb smiled.

"Okay. Mom, do you know where my electric saw went? Because it's not in my wardrobe," Pim said, almost completely back to her old self.

Keely rolled her eyes.

"No honey, I don't know where your power tools, that you shouldn't have in your room, are," Barb said, her voice containing a warning tone.

Pim sighed and then stormed out into the garage. "Curtis!"

The door opened, and Keely heard it close. "Hey!"

"Keels? You're here already?" Phil asked, poking his head round the living room door.

Keely held her arms out, ignoring the small sear of pain that ripped through her arm as she did so. "Here I am!"

"You wanna go into the garden?" Phil asked, looking down at the floor.

Keely winced. "Um…well Pim is now out there looking for a power tool."

"Right. Not in the garden then?" Phil questioned. "We could go out onto the porch. In the front garden."

Keely nodded, and they both walked out onto the front porch.

"Maybe something good will come out of all this pain," Barb whispered, and picked up the glasses that they had been drinking out of.

---

"So, did Mr. Hackett accept the letter?" Keely asked, settling herself down on the porch swing. "I mean, Mom said that she'd call up and excuse me, but if it's all okay, then that's fine."

Phil nodded. "It's great. Keels, I kind of announced to the whole school that you were in hospital. Is that okay?"

"Well, you were reporting the latest casualties, right?" Keely smiled. "And they were all going to find out one way or another anyway. I should be back at school next Monday. Seeing as it's Friday today. You know. Are you okay? I mean, you haven't made eye contact with me since we came out here."

Phil sat down next to her, reached into his pocket and pulled out the piece of paper he had found on the floor in the Broadcast room. "I found this."

"Right," Keely said, but she didn't feel as scared as she had thought she would have. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she had already told him how she felt. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn't actually freaking out. She didn't know. "I presume that you read it. I mean, if I found a piece of paper on the floor, I would pick it up and read it."

Phil smiled as Keely kept on talking, over and over. "Keely. I read it. And I loved it. I really did."

"Honestly?" Keely asked, the delight showing in her voice.

Phil nodded. "Honest to god. You were writing about me, right?"

Keely rolled her eyes, and leant forward, decreasing the space between their lips, slowly.

While they were kissing, the wind caught up, and blew the piece of paper, through to the back yard, where Pim picked it up.

_You're my inspiration_

_And you know it_

_Because when you catch me looking you smile_

_You're my inspiration_

_And I guess that I show it_

_Because I've been keeping it bottled up inside_

Pim scowled as she read it. "Gross."

Then she let go of it, and it sailed away, in the wind; floating away from all the trouble it had seen start and end.

**I am so sorry it's taken so long for me to update, but I couldn't seem to finish this chapter. I have now though, and so I'm posting it. **

**It's still not finished though, because I totally promised to get Via and Owen together. And Phil and Keely are going to come up with a plan. Talk about role reversal. **

**But anyway, review!**


	18. Told you with a smile its all about you

**Chapter 18 - So I told you with a smile, it's all about you**

They had been sitting on the porch seat, just talking, all day. Barb had come out to offer them drinks and a sandwich, but other than that they had been completely alone. Just the way they wanted it to be.

"I need to talk to you," Keely said, as the sun began to set on the horizon. "It's about Via and Owen."

Phil sighed. Surely Keely had learnt her lesson. After the last meddling incident. "Keely…"

"But I wouldn't be meddling, would I?" Keely defended herself. "I'd just be pushing them along. And this time, we both know they like each other. And it's Owen."

He hated to admit it, but Phil wanted Via and Owen to get together as much as Keely did. It seemed as though they were in denial, just like he and Keely had been only a few hours before. Well, Via was in denial. Owen pretty much announced how he felt to anyone passing.

"See, I can tell from the look on your face that you want to do it. You want to get them together as well! So, let's do it! C'mon Philly-Whilly, you have to help me!" Keely begged.

Phil rolled his eyes. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

Keely grinned eagerly, and Phil couldn't help but smile at the look on her face. It was like all her Christmases had come at once.

"Well, I was thinking…you know how it's the H.G Wells car wash on Tuesday…?"

---

"Hey guys!" Barb grinned as Phil and Keely walked into the living room, after watching the entire sunset, and outlining the details of their plan.

Pim didn't turn away from the TV, but still spoke to them. "What have you been doing out there all day?"

"Talking," Keely said.

Pim rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and some other stuff."

"Why weren't you at school today Pim?" Phil asked, folding his arms.

"No reason. I just figured, if you and Blondie were off, I was staying off too," Pim said, but Phil noticed the blush appear across her cheeks.

Keely raised her eyebrows as well, but said nothing.

"So, are you two okay?" Barb asked, wondering if her theory was true. Wondering if today had been the day.

Phil looked at Keely, and Keely smirked back.

"I'm fine Mrs. Diffy."

"Yep, I'm great Mom."

Pim rolled her eyes again. "Will you please just tell her and stop the nauseating small talk?"

Keely laughed. Trust Pim to find that nauseating. "Well, Mrs. Diffy, I guess you should be the first to know…"

"Yeah. Me and Keely, are together!" Phil said, gesturing widely with his arms as he did so, almost hitting Keely in the stomach. "Sorry Keels."

"Oh!" Barb almost squealed, and ran round the kitchen table to give both of them a huge hug. "Wow! That's great honey! And Keely! We knew that you'd get together at some point, and I had some sneaking suspicions it would be today."

Pim turned round as a commercial came on. "Yeah, she like, looked it up on the Giggle."

"I did not!" Barb cried, but the three raised eyebrows broke her down. "Okay, well maybe I did, but your father made me."

Phil looked around the room. "Speaking of which, where is Dad?"

"Well…guys, sit down," Barb said, motioning to the couch.

Keely and Phil did so, concerned looks on their faces. Pim looked worried too.

"You see, me and your dad had a chat last night, about the time machine," Barb explained. "We were talking in general. You know, how Pim has flourished so much being here, and she has really found herself. And Phil, well he has real friends, and has great grades, and we know how much he loves it here…"

Keely wrinkled her nose. "What are you saying Mrs. Diffy?"

"Well, we've decided, that Lloyd will not proceed with fixing the time machine," Barb finished.

The room fell silent.

"Are you serious?" Pim choked, but not because she was about to cry, but because she had just put a piece of popcorn in her mouth, and had swallowed it whole when her mother had told her their decision.

Barb nodded. "We thought it would be for the best."

"Oh, my, god!" Keely said, sounding remarkably like Chandler's annoying girlfriend, who appeared too often in Friends. "Yay!"

She hugged Phil, who also had a look of delight on his face. Even Pim was trying hard not to look happy.

"So, why is Dad out there now?"

Barb smiled. "Well, he's ridding our garage of all evidence there ever was a time machine there. If someone were to come snooping round - not that it will ever happen - then we want our garage to be time-machine free."

"So, we're really staying here," Pim whispered. "Wow, it took you about as long to admit that, as it did for Blondie and Phil to declare their love for each other. Which, would you mind not doing in front of me? Especially if I have eaten already that day."

Keely sniggered, and turned to Phil. "You're officially, 21st century Phil!" she sung in the same little tune she had sung the words in when the Time Capsule was being buried.

Barb laughed, and then got up. "I have to go and ring your Mom Keely. I promised to tell her if you got together today. Do you want to stay over?"

"Um…" Keely began, not wanting to share a room with Pim, but not sure the Diffy's would allow her to share with Phil.

"You can share with Phil, if you keep the door open," Barb said, smiling widely.

Pim began laughing hysterically.

"Well, maybe I want to share with Pim," Keely said sarcastically, abruptly stopping Pim's laughter. "Joke! Thanks Mrs. Diffy."

Barb nodded, and ran off to the phone.

Pim turned back to the TV; her programme had begun again.

Phil squeezed Keely's hand, and she looked down at him. "Yes?"

"I'm so glad you're not dead Keels," Phil said.

Keely nodded. "I am too. I mean, being dead can be no fun at all."

Pim turned to Phil and Keely, her eyes narrow slits. "I don't mean to break the love-fest…well, actually I do…but can you please shut your mouths. And preferably not by pressing your lips up against each other."

**Okay, one more review, and I have a hundred, so review…NOW!**


	19. Wait a lifetime for a moment like this

**Chapter 19 - Some people wait a lifetime, for a moment like this**

"I can't believe you actually did that," Keely said, looking out of the window, which Phil had just climbed out of.

Phil shrugged.

"And I thought you were scared of heights!" Keely laughed, leaning out of the window, watching Phil on the grass below.

"I never turn down a dare," Phil said, his hands on his hips; Keely was reminded of Peter Pan.

"Obviously!"

"Come out here!" Phil said, beckoning.

Keely's eyes widened.

"Come on Keels! Are you scared?"

"Yes. Yes I am. That was your dare, not mine!"

Phil raised his eyebrows.

"What?"

"Keely Teslow, truth or dare?"

Keely thought for a moment. Should she give him the satisfaction of picking what he wanted, or deliberately annoy him?

"Truth or dare?" Phil repeated, his hands folded now.

"Um…dare," Keely said, deciding that she would actually love to join him down on the grass below.

Phil laughed.

"I know what you're going to tell me to do," Keely sighed, and swung her feet out of the window.

Phil shook his hands, and Keely wrinkled her nose. What did he want her to do then?

"I dare you, to go into Pim's room, and climb out from that window. But you can't wake her," Phil smiled.

"What?" Keely protested, but she knew that it wouldn't change anything. She had chosen dare, assuming that he would just ask her to climb out. But Pim's room? She was basically committing suicide.

"Go! The sooner you leave it, the more chance that she'll be awake. I think she wakes up at about three o'clock in the morning now."

Keely rolled her eyes, but walked out of Phil's room, and padded down the hallway, and stopped outside Pim's door.

The soft sound of Pim's snoring wafted through the door, and Keely sighed, hoping that she wouldn't wake Pim up. Maybe she should go back, and get the Invisi-spray from Phil's room. But then Phil would see her, and he'd tell her that 'it wasn't part of the dare'.

She pushed the door open slightly, and shot a small glance into Pim's room. It was green and purple, and it looked way too nice to be Pim's room. This was the girl who wanted to take over the world, right?

She tiptoed in, and closed the door, almost silently, behind her.

Then she made her way across the room to the window on the other side of the room. Dark objects were scattered across the floor, and Keely had to dodge her way round them, paying no attention to what they were. She wasn't sure she wanted to know anyway. She only wanted to get out of this window, and complete the dare that Phil had challenged her to. Her main priority now, was to get out of here alive.

Pim groaned, and tossed in her sleep, making Keely jump.

"Thank goodness," Keely whispered, under her breath.

She got to the window, and looking out of it, she saw Phil gazing up at it. He looked surprised to see her there, but shrugged. She still had to get out.

Keely turned to look at Pim, but glad to see that she was sound asleep, she began to pull open the window; trying to be as quiet as she could.

Finally managing to force the window open, Keely swung her legs out of it, and looked down at the garden below. The world seemed to swirl around her; everything became disorientated.

"Keely! Are you okay?" Phil called, as quietly as he could. He had noticed Keely's hesitation.

Keely's eyes widened, and she flicked her head round to see if Pim had woken up because of Phil's outburst. She hadn't.

Keely pushed herself off the ledge, and her foot rested on a loose brick. She hoped it wouldn't come lose before she had got herself down to the floor. She grabbed hold of the pipe, and managed to let herself drop, down to the ground.

When her feet touched the grass, she breathed a huge sigh of relief. And Pim hadn't woken up.

"Wow. You did it," Phil said, obviously impressed.

"Yes," Keely laughed. "I totally did it!"

She stumbled a bit, still disorientated, but Phil caught her.

"You okay?" Phil asked, making sure she was steady before releasing her.

She nodded.

"You sure?"

"Yes! I'm fine!" Keely laughed, and then began to spin around in circles, a huge grin on her face.

"That can't be a good thing to do if you're dizzy," Phil said, watching her, a look of amusement on his face.

"Who cares if it is or not?" Keely asked, stopping spinning. She looked at Phil, and immediately smiled.

"Obviously not you," Phil joked.

It was after midnight, but neither Phil or Keely were tired. And considering the very little sleep they had had the night before, both were running on excitement alone.

"I used to want to move out of Pickford," Keely said, falling onto the ground, her legs crossed underneath her. "I used to hate it here. But then you came. And it all changed."

"I'm honoured," Phil laughed, collapsing next to her.

"You should be. You changed my life Phil. And I mean it. I don't want to live in LA, or London anymore. I'm happy right here."

"I'm happy right here too," Phil smiled, and looked into Keely's emerald eyes.

They were inches away from each other, but a sudden noise from above them jerked them apart.

"Is there a moment of the day, or night, that I won't have to see you feeding off each other?" Pim said, her elbow on the window ledge. "Because you've only been together, what? Ten hours, and I've seen you swapping spit…" she began to count on her fingers.

"Go away!" Phil cried, while Keely laughed.

"Gladly," Pim said. "Oh, and Blondie? Next time you feel the urge to climb out my window, can you close it afterwards? Thank you?"

Now it was Phil's turn to laugh, and Keely just rolled her eyes.

"Can we go inside now?"

**Another in-the-middle chapter. Keep reviewing. Now. **

**Next chapter, I will have skipped a few days. It'll be Tuesday. I can't afford to stall any longer, can I?**

**Now, be gone, and review!**


	20. Everybody's hangin' out at the car wash

**Chapter 20 - Everybody's hangin' out at the car wash**

"So, you know what you have to do?" Keely asked Phil one last time as they lined up to get their buckets full of water. After Keely's comment on the morning news, Mr Hackett had banned hoses, and he also said that any girl wearing a bikini would be suspended for a week. So Keely was wearing an old shirt, and a pair of cut-off jeans, and even though Mr. Hackett didn't look thrilled with her ensemble, he couldn't do anything about it.

"Yes," Phil sighed. "I take Owen, you take Via and kablam, we get them together."

"Kablam?" Keely wrinkled her nose. "Who says 'kablam'? You know, apart from you."

"Owen says it," Phil defended himself.

Keely snorted.

"What?"

"Well, if Owen says it, everyone has to start saying it!" Keely cried sarcastically, causing everyone in front to turn to look at her. "What are you looking at?"

Phil rolled his eyes, and took another step forwards. After their three-am climb, they had been cooped up in the house all weekend, putting the final touches to Keely's 'master plan'.

"You sure you know what to do?" Keely asked, after only a few minutes of silence.

Phil sighed.

"I'm only asking! Chillax!" Keely threw her arms up defensively.

"Chillax?"

"It's better than 'kablam'!"

"No it isn't!"

Keely fell silent, and nudged Phil, who spun round, and became face to face with Owen.

"Hi Owen," Phil said, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Keely just bit her lip, not trusting herself to be quiet. Even she knew that at times, she could talk a bit too much.

"Hey Philly-Cheese Steak," Owen grinned, oblivious to what was due to happen to him pretty soon.

"So, how're you Owen?" Phil asked. Small talk was the best way to go.

Owen grinned, and nodded, which Phil took to mean that he was okay. Unless he was using reverse psychology. But Phil doubted he even knew what reverse psychology meant.

"I have to get my water bucket ready. Do you think Via'll change into her bikini if I chuck this bucket of water over her?"

Keely shook her head, and her nose was wrinkled.

"No, I don't think she'll change into her bikini if you throw water over her," Phil observed. "In fact, I think she's more likely to throw a bucket back over you."

"Sweet!" Owen grinned, and began to walk away. Before he disappeared from view, he tossed his head over his shoulder. "By the way, I reckon 'kablam' is better than 'chillax'."

Phil punched the air, and Keely scowled.

"Yes! I told you!"

Keely rolled her eyes. "Well, Owen would say that, wouldn't he? He made the world up anyway!"

"You're just mad that you lost!" Phil taunted.

"Can we please just get on with the plan?" Keely sighed, and grabbed a bucket of soapy water and a brush. The car wash was about to begin.

---

"Phil!" Keely screamed, as another spray of soapy water jetted over the car that she and Phil were supposed to be washing. "Stop spraying me!"

A dark head popped up from the other side of the car, but it wasn't Phil's head. "Sorry Keely."

"Oh, it's you Via. I thought Phil…" Keely began her eyes scanning for Phil. Where was he?

"Yeah, um, Phil said he had to go talk to Owen about something," Via explained. "I said I'd help you."

Keely relaxed a little, but not much. "Well he'd better be back soon."

"Why?" Via questioned.

"Um…no reason," Keely stammered, trying to think of a plausible excuse. "I just need to tell him something, that's all."

Via laughed.

"What?" Keely asked, leaning over to scrub the window clean. "I just need to talk to him."

"Okay," Via said, rubbing the wheels with her cloth.

Keely just rolled her eyes, trying not to draw attention to the fact that she was awful at lying. But only Phil could tell when she was definitely not telling the truth. Thank goodness.

"So, is there anything you need to tell me about you and Phil?" Via asked, as casually as she could possibly be.

Keely hesitated. Should she tell her now? They had been so caught up yesterday, that they had 'forgotten' to tell Owen and Via that they were officially 'going out'. But should she tell Via now, or wait until Phil was here?

"I take that as a yes," Via said, trying but failing to hide the grin that was slowly forming on her face.

"Okay, so yes, we are actually going out, and yes, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, and yes, that is what I have to talk to him about. Now, anything else, or do I have to read your mind again?"

Via just smiled, and carried on scrubbing the cars.

"Scraps!" Keely cried, dropping her sponge in the bucket, causing a soapy splash. "I forgot my books in the Broadcast room. Can you come and get them with me?"

"Can't you get them yourself?" Via asked, sounding confused.

"Via, please…" Keely began. "There's a lot of books. Plus, we get away from this for a few minutes at least."

"Okay," Via sighed, and got up, dumping her cloth in the bucket alongside Keely's.

---

"Owen!" Phil called, seeing him over on the other end of the field.

"Phil!" Owen yelled, his mouth broadening into a huge smile.

Phil tried to remember the last time Owen had called him by his first name. He couldn't.

"So, what's up, dude?" Owen asked, slapping Phil on the back. Hard.

Phil winced.

"Sorry man," Owen apologised.

"It's okay. Look, have you seen Keely? I lost track of her!" Phil asked.

Owen looked up at the sky, apparently thinking hard.

"Owen?" Phil asked, waving a hand in front of his friend's face.

"Sorry, Phil. Um…nope, I haven't seen them. You want me to help you look?"

Again with the 'Phil'.

"Um…do you want to help me look?" Phil asked, confused at Owen's actual will to help.

Owen nodded eagerly. "I'd love to help, P-Dawg!"

And the streak stops at two.

"Okay. They might have gone to the Broadcast lab," Phil said, thinking. "But we'll go in the back entrance. It's closer."

"And we can scare the ladies," Owen said, nodding.

Phil raised his eyebrows. "Yeah. Whatever you say Owen."

---

"Keely?" Via asked, her nose wrinkled.

Keely turned to look at her, her blonde hair flicking around.

"I've been thinking. About what you said on the phone last week," Via said, looking down at the floor.

Keely stopped. "Oh yeah?"

"Do you think I should give Owen a chance? I mean, he was actually real nice when he found out that you were in hospital," Via said, standing next to Keely, still looking at her feet.

"Well…" Keely began. She didn't want to tell Via how to run her life. She looked at her watch. "If you want to give him a chance, then do."

Via nodded, and they carried on walking.

They came to the Broadcast room's door, and Keely unlocked it, and stood back to let Via in first.

"Thanks Keely," Via said, stepping into the room.

"No, thank you," Keely said, and slammed the door shut.

---

"Diffo?" Owen said as they walked to the back entrance of the Broadcast room.

"Yeah?" Phil asked, checking his watch for the time.

Owen was silent for a minute.

"Spit it out!" Phil cried, as they turned the corner, only a few steps away from the Broadcast room.

"Do you think I ever have a chance with Via?" Owen asked, looking uncomfortable for probably the first time in his life.

"Sure you will!" Phil reassured him.

Owen smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Cool."

They reached the Broadcast lab, and Phil took out his key to unlock the door.

"You go first," Phil offered.

"Thanks Diffo!" Owen smiled, completely back to his old self.

"My pleasure," Phil replied, and then shut the door hastily behind him.

---

"What?" Via cried. "Keely!"

"Huh?" Owen shouted. "Phil?"

Via turned round. "Owen?"

"Via?" Owen asked.

Via nodded. "Well, yes."

"Well, it's definitely the O-Dawg!" Owen said, walking to the middle of the room. "We were looking for you!"

Via wrinkled her nose. "What?"

"Well, Phil wanted to know where you were, so I offered to help him, and so we walked over to here, and then he slammed the door, and you were here," Owen explained.

"Ditto," Via agreed.

Owen looked confused. "How was Diffo in two places at once?"

Via sighed, and went over to sit on the couch, that was usually reserved for Phil and Keely. She sat on something that crinkled, and so she got back up again, staring at the couch. A piece of paper was lying on the place she had just been sitting. She picked it up. "Press play?"

"Press play on what?" Owen asked.

"I have no idea," Via asked.

Owen looked around the room. "The video!" He practically sprinted over to the video player, and pressed play.

A picture of Phil and Keely was put onto the screen, and Via rolled her eyes. It stunk of a set up.

"Hey guys!" Keely chirped.

Phil just nodded.

"So, you're probably wondering why we've locked you in a room, with only each other as company," Keely said. "I mean, I know I would be."

Via snorted.

"Well, the reason is, that we totally think that you're both missing what is right in front of you. And we think you need to see it," Phil said. "So I agreed to take part in this one plan, and this one plan only."

"Via, why don't you want to go out with Owen? I mean, he's cute, funny…okay, maybe not as smart as some people I could mention," Keely said, looking pointedly at Phil. "So, why have you resisted for so long?"

Via looked at the floor, while Owen looked like he was blushing.

"And Owen, dude," Phil began. "You, and Via. You've been telling me that 'you're gonna ask her out today' and I can't remember you even trying. Why don't you go for it? I mean, you're not the smartest guy, and I can completely understand that you don't want to seem dumb compared to Via, but honestly, no matter what you do, you're never gonna be Einstein. So, jump in. If she says no, then it's no big deal, but there is a huge chance that she will say yes. So, look at her now, and ask her out."

Owen looked over at Via, who looked like she was about to cry.

"Good luck guys!" Keely and Phil said in unison, and then the screen went black.

There was only silence in the room for a few minutes, and then Via spoke.

"Owen, do you really feel dumb compared to me?"

Owen nodded.

"I'm sorry. It's just…you're not dumb. Just a bit slower than everyone else. And I actually find that funny. It makes you, you," Via sniffed.

Owen smiled. "And do you really like me?"

"I guess…" Via whispered.

They both looked at the floor for a few seconds, and then looked at each other.

"Um…do you want to go out sometime?" Owen asked.

Via thought for a minute, and then smiled. "Okay."

"Cool," Owen grinned, and then looked at her awkwardly.

"You wanna, hug or something?" Via asked, sensing his awkwardness.

Owen nodded, and then hugged Via.

---

Keely and Phil looked at each other. The truth was, the video had not been pre-prepared. They had been playing it by ear, using the Wizrd, and even though Via and Owen couldn't see them, the television was their keyhole into the room.

"Yes!" Phil grinned, as he heard Owen ask Via out, and Via say yes.

Keely cheered, and punched the air. "It worked, it worked, yeah, yeah!"

"Mission complete!"

**I hope that made sense. I couldn't actually think of a better plan. I suck. **

**Anyway, review! Right now! **


	21. Learn to take good, bad and breathe

**Chapter 21 - I learned to take the good, the bad and breathe**

"We raised a total of two thousand dollars in the 10th grade car wash yesterday," Keely read out from the piece of paper. "Now, I'm wondering when we all get our cut, seeing as _we_ were the ones scrubbing the cars clean, and breaking our nails, and getting our manicures ruined!" She took a deep breath, and then calmed down. "But, whatever. The teachers and student council are going to meet today to decide what the money goes towards. Hopefully a new set of cameras for the AV lab, because this one, as you can see, makes my nose look big."

Phil rolled his eyes, knowing that Keely wasn't joking. She was actually serious.

"Um…next page," Keely muttered, picking up the next page. "Okay, so some of you were writing in, and asking me loads of questions about where I was last Friday, and I've decided to totally answer them. Okay, so, I spent about three hours of the day in hospital, because some raving lunatic broke into my house, and tried to murder both me and Phil. The murderer only cut my arm though, so I needed stitches, but I'm sure most of you don't want to see the gaping wound in my arm. Um…and then the rest of the day I spent at Phil's, and I do not want any of you rolling your eyes and muttering 'as usual', because I get enough of that. And I don't need to tell you what we were doing, because Pim has most likely told you that part. If she hasn't, then chase her up. Is there anything else I need to tell them all Phil?"

"No. I seriously think you have said enough," Phil said, and his hand hovered over the Stop button as Keely finished up.

"Lunch today is something equally as disgusting as it was yesterday. Did you expect something nice?" Keely chirped, and then she smiled. "Signing off, this is Keely Teslow! And…we're out."

Phil pressed Stop, and walked over to Keely, kissing her on the cheek. "You rocked."

"A change," Keely smiled, spinning around in her chair again.

"You wanted it," Phil said, and watched as Keely collected her books, and they filed out of the AV room.

Keely watched Candida stalk up the corridor with her posse. She watched Tanner bump into a dozen things whilst writing on his hand. There was Danny Dawkins running down the corridor after Pim; a number of other students following her. Keely smiled. Pim obviously wasn't the gossip-queen of the school. And then there was Via and Owen.

Their first date had gone remarkably well. Owen had said few dumb things all night. Via had said few smart things all night. And when you get one person not being dumb, and one person not being smart, it turns out they get on pretty well. And Owen had actually paid. This surprised both Phil and Keely. They both thought he'd be pretty stingy.

"Keely!" Via called, and ran up to her. "Owen wants to know if we all want to go to that music festival next week. You know, it's the holidays and all."

Keely grinned. "Why, is he paying?"

"Yeah…no," Owen said. "Why should I pay for any of your tickets?"

Phil rolled his eyes. Sure he had paid for Via's dinner, but once a stickler, always a stickler.

"Thanks Owen," Keely said sarcastically. "We appreciate your immense kindness."

Owen looked pleased with himself, not caring that the other three were laughing at him.

"So, I'll buy my own ticket, shall I?" Via joked.

"Ditto," Phil added.

"I think I can get my Mom to give me the money," Keely laughed.

Owen grinned. "So, the four musketeers are going to the music festival next week. How awesome is that?"

"Pretty awesome!" Via agreed. "Look guys, I've got to go. Hackett will murder me if I'm late again."

Keely smiled, and waved as Via and Owen walked up the corridor. Well, Via walked. Owen bounded.

"So, we're going to the music festival?" Phil asked.

Keely shrugged. "It certainly looks that way."

"Kablam!" Phil cried.

Keely just rolled her eyes. She was accepting the fact that no matter how hard she tried, she was never going to get Phil to stop saying kablam. It was like trying to get a dolphin to grow legs. Wasn't going to happen.

"Am I annoying you yet?" Phil asked, as they continued down the hallway.

"Yep. But I'll live," Keely grinned, smiling at Jenna, the girl Phil had 'introduced' her to.

"Good. I don't want you dying on me," Phil joked.

"Especially since you'll be the one who caused my death. You bored me, so I collapsed and died."

Phil laughed.

A week.

In the space of one week, it showed, that your whole life could change.

Keely had wanted a change.

She had gotten a D in algebra.

Her father had been diagnosed with cancer.

Her father had been murdered.

A psychotic murderer broke into her house and tried to kill her.

She had gained a boyfriend.

They had gotten Owen and Via together.

"So, what do you want to do tonight? I mean, if we're going to the music festival next week, we might want to go to the movie tonight," Keely said.

"It's that chick-flick isn't it?" Phil grimaced.

Keely rolled her eyes.

"I know we went to see the one I wanted on Sunday, but…"

"No buts. You promised," Keely folded her arms in mock anger.

Phil sighed.

"Right, so we have the movie tonight, the festival next week. Oh, plus, you promised that Skyak trip over to London. Shopping, here I come!" Keely grinned.

Phil rolled his eyes. Only last week Keely had been complaining that her life was too ordinary. How many other sixteen year old girls had been on a Skyak? Or been threatened with murder? Or still presented the news with a smile every morning?

Then again, Keely was anything but ordinary…

**Finished. Sniff. And I don't think there's a sequel on the horizon. Unless, you know, somebody very kind, offers me some ideas that would be appreciated and used. **

**But onto the next project. Unbelievable 2. Well, it won't be called that, but whatever. And I say whatever a lot, so I'm going to cease now, to let you review. **


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